Former members of Chumbawamba have threatened to sue Ukip after the right-wing party used the ‘anarchist’ band’s track ‘Tubthumping’ at its annual conference.
The party’s leader Nigel Farage walked onstage to the band’s 1999 Number Two single at the conference, which is taking place in Eastbourne this weekend.
Singer Dunstan Bruce, who is not in the current incarnation of the group, said told The Guardian of his “total and absolute outrage and horror” at the use of the track and suggested Ukip must be unaware of the band’s background.
He said:
This song being used by Ukip is so wrong. I am absolutely appalled that this grubby little organisation are stealing our song to use for their own ends. It’s beyond the pale and if they use it again we will consider legal action.
Chumbawamba‘s former singer Alice Nutter also weighed in, commenting:
If ever there was gross misuse of a band’s music this is it.
A spokesperson for Ukip told the newspaper that the party would not be using the song again after learning of the band’s opposition.
It’s not the first time the Burnley band have attacked a political party – back in 1997 vocalist Danbert Nobacon doused Labour’s then-deputy prime minister John Prescott with a bucket of water at the Brit Awards.