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  1. Politics
29 November 2016

Kate Bush thinks Theresa May is “wonderful“ – and it’s not the first time she’s turned political

Bush also recorded a 1980s music video about Ken Livingstone. 

By Julia Rampen

Kate Bush has described Theresa May as “the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time” because of her intelligence and power as a woman. 

Asked about her song “Waking the Witch” and fears of women’s power in an interview with the Canadian magazine Macleans, the iconic musician praised the British Prime Minister.

She told the magazine: “We have a female prime minister here in the UK. I actually really like her and think she’s wonderful. I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time.”

Bush praised “sensible” May’s intelligence and added: “It is great to have a woman in charge of the country.”

Imaginative singer-songwriter Bush has broken many records for women in music, including becoming the first female artist to have eight albums in the top 40 at the same time. Although Bush herself has said she hates the word feminist, her songs often address feminist themes, such as This Woman’s Work, about the dangers of childbirth.

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Nevertheless, in light of Bush’s approval of May, The Staggers feels compelled to revisit the 1980s, when she sang the soundtrack to The Comic Strip Presents… series “GLC: The Carnage Continues”.

The satirical music video shows Ken Livingstone, played by Robbie Coltrane, launching a violent takeover of the Greater London Council. Bush sings over the top: “Where is the man that we all need?… Ken is the man we all need. Ken is the leader of the GLC.” She even refers to Livingstone as a “sex machine”.

In the video, Ken is living in the wild, when he discovers a plan to flood South London. The song begins as Ken is handing out posters and campaigning while also getting back into shape with the help of weights and a bottle of milk.

He then storms into the corrupt offices of the GLC and pushes out the leader, releases prisoners and rallies a bunch of armed guerilla fighters.

Livingstone later became Mayor of London, and afterwards has devoted much of his time to his hobby of talking about Hitler, but he didn’t forget. In 2010, he told The Quietus: “Of course I was a fan of the song.” 

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