M People founder and former Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering has poked fun at Liz Truss after the PM walked out onstage at the Tory party conference to one of the band's biggest hits. Pickering said he hopes the PM 'takes note' of the lyrics to Moving On Up, adding: “She won't be around to use it again for very long. I would imagine."
The opening lines of the song read 'You've done me wrong, your time is up', with the last line of the first verse saying: 'Move right out of here, baby, go on pack your bags'.
The dance anthem, which was released by the Manchester-based band in 1993, peaked at number two on the UK singles chart.
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Pickering said: "I was just looking at the lyrics. It's amazing. I hope she takes note. It's about, 'Go and pack your bags and get out'.
"They (the band) are livid. (Lead singer Heather Small's) boy James is a Labour councillor. Hopefully most people will know that they have pirated it off us."
He added: "I am absolutely gutted by it because they are killing the live touring of bands and artists… I am Mancunian and getting from Manchester to London these days is harder than getting on to continental Europe."
Pickering said the band had contacted their lawyers but been advised there was little that could be done.
He said: "The rest of the band have rung me: 'For God sake, how can we stop it?' And we just rang the lawyers and they went, 'You can't actually stop it. We can send a letter to cease and desist but you can't do it'.
"They can play what they like, which seems a bit weird to me."
Asked why he thought the song had been used, he replied: "No one said to them 'Tony Blair and new Labour used that song all the time' or 'Heather's son is a Labour councillor' or 'Mike is really vociferous on Twitter and social media about being an anti-Tory'.
"I don't know why they have used it. They are so useless at everything. Who knows?"
Liz Truss personally selected M People song Moving On Up for her walk-on music, her press secretary said. "There was a range of options and she chose that one," he added.
He was unable to say whether the party had asked the band for permission. "I don’t have detailed knowledge of how the licensing of this stuff works," he said.
When asked about Mr Pickering's criticism, the press secretary said: "I don’t know who he is." The Prime Minister's speech quickly had to be paused after protesters interrupted the conference. Two women held a flag which read 'who voted for this?' as the Prime Minister delivered her keynote speech. The banner also had the Greenpeace on it.
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