Mixing pop and politics

"...he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses".

(Great Leap Forwards, Billy Bragg)

With no excuses and an apparent lack of embarassment, Theresa "Russell & Bromley" May decided yesterday to tread the 'pop & politics' tightrope. At Business Questions DJ T- May bemoaned the demise of 'Top of the Pops' and then, in a move as stealthy as an Indian elephant in yellow pyjamas, slipped a series of pop references into her searing indictment of Government failure...

Hansard 22 June 2006 c1467

For example, given the Home Secretary’s recent problems, I wonder whether he should listen to the U2 track “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. Perhaps we could have a touch of Dire Straits for the Deputy Prime Minister with the track “Money for Nothing”. I suppose that the Chancellor might look to Diana Ross with “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. Perhaps the Prime Minister would like the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”. Talking of clashes, perhaps the Chancellor would describe his relationship with the Prime Minister with the White Stripes track “Every Day I Love You Less and Less”. Or, given the Chancellor’s commitment to new Labour, maybe his track for him and the Prime Minister should be Elton John’s “Friends Never Say Goodbye”:

“There isn’t much I haven’t shared
With you
along the road...
Who’s to say who’s right or
wrong
Whose course is braver run
Still we are, have always been
Will ever be as one”.

Yep, politicans are a funny bunch, and, where one ventures, others inevitably follow.

Iain Wright, MP for Hartlepool, aged 15, pointed out that "Every Day I Love You Less and Less” was sung by the Kaiser Chiefs rather than the White Stripes. With an eye on the crucial Artic Monkey-supporting demographic, he then said he was tempted to call Mrs May “Mardy bum”, but, being more gracious, he should say “I bet you look good on the dance floor”.

The Westminster law of diminshing comedy returns was proved once again when David Hamilton (MP for Cajun Jazz, Labour) ventured that 'Keep on running' by Spencer Davies might have be an appropriate response to Mrs May's pop promptings.

The popular music interjections got weaker and made you wish for an unusual scenario. If only the leader of the Opposition - and self-confessed fan of the Smiths - turned up, one thought, to step up to the Despatch Box and tell his fellows MPs "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore".

(hat-tip: RW)