If I went on a Patrick Bateman-Esque murdering spree, it would be soundtracked by Chris de Burgh’s ‘Lady in Red’, or caused by it, who is to know!

Tom Langford got me thinking about this when he suggested: TBH you could probably post daily simply comparing the day’s news to music. “Why Starmer’s latest initiatives are exactly like the Sex Pistols” etc, etc.

And it got me thinking, who would I compare Keir Starmer to if he was a band or a solo artist. It came to me instantly:

Solo Artist: Chris de Burgh

Band: M People

I was a massive fan of Keir when he was Leader of the Opposition, I liked how ruthless he was in dealing with antisemitism in the Labour Party, overjoyed when he was elected as PM which slowly turned into horror at the spineless, cowardly bureaucratic **** (insert the strongest bad word that would see me banned off LinkedIn) that he has become. I genuinely think the Labour Party are worse than the Conservatives (I have a ring that states ‘Never Voted Tory’ that I wear on my middle finger). They are effectively overseeing a Police State where you can be arrested for wearing a ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt: Protester arrested for wearing ‘Plasticine Action’ shirt to Westminster rally | The Independent

My Bestie Lisa used to work for Harper Collins in Glasgow and her boss was besties with Rishi Sunak. Now, I must admit to being a fan of Rishi Sunak for the following reasons:

1. His resignation caused the downfall of the walking, incompetent flump that was Boris Johnson;
2. He resigned in the rain without a brolly or raincoat (was it just me that thought of that shocking scene at the end of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ when Andi McDowell’s character said ‘Is it raining, I didn’t notice’);
3. He lead the feckless, poisonous Tory Party at their lowest ebb (impressive even for them) with grace and humour; and
4. He was Leader of the Opposition when the leadership contest was going on and managed it with grace and good humour.

Anyway, I digress, back to the Starmer/Chris de Burgh comparison. I must admit going down a de Burgh Wiki Wormhole Chris de Burgh – Wikipedia and I learnt some fascinating things:

1. De Burgh was born in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, to Colonel Charles John Davison,[6] a British diplomat, and Maeve Emily (née de Burgh). His maternal grandfather was General Eric de Burgh, a British Army officer who had been Chief of the General Staff in India during the Second World War. He took his mother’s maiden name, “de Burgh”, as a stage name when he began performing, while his legal surname remains “Davison”.
2. De Burgh attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England, where he was in the year below Nick Drake; de Burgh asked to join a jazz band Drake had formed with four schoolmates, the Perfumed Gardeners, but was rejected as his taste was “too poppy”.  In 2007, a concert in Tehran was planned for mid-2008, together with local band Arian, which would have made de Burgh the first western pop singer to perform in Iran since the 1979 revolution, but the concert never went ahead because he had not been given permission by the Iranian authorities to perform in the country.
3. De Burgh was the first Western act to play in Lebanon after the Lebanese Civil War.
4. On his 73rd birthday on 15 October 2021, de Burgh released a music video for his single “Legacy” directed by Iranian filmmaker/animator Sam Chegini, an animated music video for his 27th studio album, The Legend of Robin Hood.
5. In 2011, bottles from de Burgh’s vintage wine cellar sold for over $500,000, including a world record set for a magnum collection of postwar vintages.
6. De Burgh has said that he is “certainly a believer in Christ”, but he has always had a deep distrust of organized religion. De Burgh believes in the power of spiritual healing as an alternative therapy to reduce pain. He claims that he has been able to heal people with his own hands and that he gained an “all-encompassing strength” that was contacted through prayer.

Now, I must admit, “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”, is a banger that would save him being my choice for Room 101. ‘Lady in Red’ though would be my equivalent of Winston’s rats. It is like nails down a blackboard when I hear that song.

De Burgh, like Starmer, is a bit of a ‘Curate’s egg’ but if I was stuck in a lift, I would prefer to be stuck in a lift with de Burgh, on the condition he did not sing LIR.

The comparison with M People is a solid one too. Bland, verging on offensive power pop. ‘Proud’ is saved only because I like Miranda’s impression of it.

So, if you like what you have read, please suggest in the comments Politicians that I can compare to pop stars / acts.