Tony Blair ~ The British prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 originally wanted to be a rock star and promoter, singing and playing guitar in a short lived and unrecorded punk band named Ugly Rumours after he moved from Scotland to England in the late 1970's. One band mate was Mark Ellen, who would later become a rock journalist and television emcee for "The Old Grey Whistle Test". Blair was apparently considered a pushy self-promoter and was generally disliked in the scene.
Peter Chapman ~ A Tory member of the Scottish Parliament released an album of folk songs in the Scottish English language known as Doric
Edward VIII ~ Before he became the disgraced former king of England the Crown Prince was a popular figure of the Jazz Age where he was known for appearing at Dixieland jazz clubs and sometimes sitting in with the bands and playing the drums and banjo at which he was apparently quite good. His Grandfather Edward VII was another party animal who played a little banjo and reportedly got lessons from popular Black Canadian minstrel duo the Bohee Bros.
Elizabeth I ~ Like her father Henry VIII (see below) Queen Bess considered herself quite cultured and dabbled with various stringed and key instruments but was especially fond of dancing.
Tim Farron; MP and Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017 was a member of an obscure synth-pop band under various names such as "Fred the Girl" and "The Voyeurs" but he's been vague about the band's history. He ran for parliament successfully in 2005 and has been reelected since but stepped down as leader after the party's dismal results in the 2017 election.
Peter Garrett ~ The bald and over six foot tall singer for the Australian post punk band Midnight Oil from 1973 to 2002 was also a lawyer and activist for peace, native rights and the environment, running for the Australian Senate in 1984 unsuccessfully as a green candidate before switching to the Labour Party and winning election in 2004. He is currently the Minster of Environment, Heritage and the Arts.
MIDNIGHT OIL ~ "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS";
Dennis Healey ~ A powerful leader in the Labour Party from the 1960's to the 1980's as a cabinet minister and leadership candidate, Healey was also a good pianist who occasionally appeared on television.
DENNIS HEALEY ~ "THE WIZARD OF OZ";
Danny Healy-Rae ~ The Healy-Raes are a family dynasty in County Kerry in Ireland who have run held various offices as independents for decades the old fashioned way, shaking hands, showing up at funerals christenings and weddings and using traditional campaign fight songs railing against the elites in Dublin and London at least one of which features MP Danny Healy-Rae on the accordion.
Edward Heath ~ British Conservative Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974 was a respected classical conductor and pianist who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and others in the U.K and U.S.A even while still in office and won honorary music degrees. After losing the Tory leadership to Thatcher who toppled him and then excluded him from cabinet he stayed as an MP for the next twenty years (long enough to get his revenge by voting against Thatcher when her leadership came up) while cooling his heels on the back benches he recorded albums and wrote a book of Christmas carols. Note; This Ted Heath is not to be confused with his contemporary Ted Heath who confusingly led a Jazz Big Band in Britain from the 1950's to the 1980's.
EDWARD HEATH CONDUCTING;
Henry VIII ~ Considering himself the ultimate Renaissance Prince (at least until he became a fat, bloated, syphilitic, buffoon) Henry was considered a talented musician on various stringed and keyed instruments as well as composing a number of songs, both hymns and love ballads, he was also a good dancer.
A.P Herbert ~ Humorist for Punch Magazine in Britain and a light opera librettist for Cochran, was also a lawyer who ran for Parliament in the 1930's on a platform of liberalizing divorce laws, and lost.
Lillian Lenton ~ One of the most radical of the British women suffragettes of the early 20th century as well as the most beautiful, Lenton started off as a trained dancer before being radicalized by the issues of woman's equality. As a radical suffragette she was noted for acts of vandalism and arson for which she was arrested several times upon which she went on hunger strikes and was force fed once almost leading to her death when food was forced into her lungs by mistake. Eventually she escaped to Europe where she served as a nurse during World War 1 and was awarded with medals. After the war she became an advocate for children and animals. She died in 1972.
Brian May; Guitarist for mega-successful pomp-rock band Queen. May has been a Conservative supporter but is also well known environmentalist and supporter of historical preservation. In the 2015 election he announced he might run for parliament as an independent but later declined and endorsed the Green Party.
QUEEN ~ "CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE";
Donnie Munro ~ Singer for popular Scottish Celtic Rock band Runrig since 1974, Munro was also the Rector of Edinburgh University from 1991 to 1994. He suddenly quit in 1999 to run for the British Parliament for the Labour Party only to narrowly lose to The Liberal Democrats. Munro subsequently returned to scholarship and Gaelic music. Fellow Runrig band member Pete Wishart would also run for office with better luck (see below).
RUNRIG ~ "LOCH LOMAND";
Dave Rowntree - Drummer for 1990's top-ten Britpop band Blur. He later became a lawyer and ran for the Labour Party in 2007 unsuccessfully and again in 2008, 2010 and 2011, so far with notable lack of success.
BLUR ~ "SONG 2";
Andy Semple - AKA Andy Septic, guitarist for 1970's Scottish Punk band the Limps. Later became a Cockermouth City Councillor for the Labour Party.
THE LIMPS ~ "SOMEONE I CAN TALK TO";
Rose Simpson ~ Bassist for the 1960's British psychedelic/folk group the Incredible String Band. After quitting music she settled in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth where she was appointed Lord Mayoress as a Liberal Democrat. After serving her term she retired and still lives in the town.
THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND ~ "PAINTING BOX";
Screaming Lord Sutch ~ British shock rock pioneer from the early 1960's who claimed to be a hereditary English Lord (which he was not) and who became a famously perennial candidate in forty British elections from 1963 to 1997 as the leader and founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, occasionally getting more votes than some of the "serious" parties. His campaigns were good matured but nonsensical and best known for his flamboyant costumes. In 1990 he got more votes than the SDP led by former foreign secretary David Owen which promptly disbanded weeks later. After Sutch got several hundred votes in Margaret Thatcher's riding the rules were changed forcing candidates to pay a larger fee to run, but Sutch simply staged more fund raising concerts and kept on running until he killed himself in 1999.
SCREAMING LORD SUTCH ~ "JACK THE RIPPER";
Pete Wishart ~ A Scottish National Party member of the British Parliament for the Scottish riding of Perthshire since 2001, Wishart was previously known since 1986 as the keyboardist for the popular Celtic Rock band Runrig, before that he had been in a lineup of Big Country, one of Scotland's biggest bands of the 1980's. Wishart in fact did not quit Runrig until he was elected. He was also not the first member of Runrig to run for office as singer Donnie Munro had already done so for the Labour Party with less success (see above). Wishart was re-elected in 2010.
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