(of a politician) stating the official party line.
‘Clearly he should have consulted his political adviser and stayed on-message.’
‘Despite their reputation for subversiveness, both Ant and Dec have a tendency to speak in the flavourless on-message soundbites of New Labour politicians.’
‘Thus the CRE chief still thinks that the way to change public attitudes is through official re-education schemes (such as summer citizenship camps for lucky teenagers), and by giving grants to on-message projects.’
‘They not only control who stands for them but when they are here, they have to be totally on-message.’
‘The last thing this country needs is smiling, on-message, mealy-mouthed New Labour vs smiling, on-message, mealy-mouthed New Conservative.’
‘These are visual-bite times when a man's suitability for a job can be measured by the extent of his facial hair, so the hair on your head has got to be on-message, not just hanging about hoping to muddle through somehow.’
‘And on his emergence from Howard University Hospital yesterday, the flamboyant rapper managed to stay staggeringly on-message.’
‘I discuss the possibility of having him liquidated with elements of the intelligence community who are on-message, but we reluctantly agree he would be more trouble dead than alive.’
‘Benn speaks as he thinks and does not worry about being on-message or about the reactions of shadowy press officer figures lurking offstage.’
‘Now that she is a backbencher and no longer has to be on-message, Harman is coming up with radical proposals to help women balance both their working lives and caring responsibilities.’
‘If Howells is serious about being on-message, he'd better leave his nanny-state theories of film-making to those better informed than himself.’
‘He has long been referred to as the ‘PC pc’ on account of his relentless, on-message polyversity-speak.’
‘Your credibility is determined by how much you can push against other people's opinions while still staying on-message enough to be believed.’
‘To be on-message dressing down is the norm while dressing up is for the hopelessly sad who are not relaxed enough to get in sync with New Labour's New Britain.’
‘It is New Labour that has done so much to get members of its organisation on-message and on the same page, and members of the citizenry inside its Big Tent.’
‘Your on-message diarist, on the other hand, has no doubt secured himself a place at the great junket, and should order the new tuxedo now.’
‘But they're very worried about saying something that is not on-message, so they don't say anything.’
‘Who says the Scottish Executive is not on-message for Labour London?’
‘Demonstrators are asked to march alongside Gordon Brown, wearing white, and to stay on-message.’
Are You Learning English? Here Are Our Top English Tips