Musician slams Liz Truss after walking out to his song Moving On Up at Tory conference

‘I don’t want my song being a soundtrack to lies’


A musician behind the song Moving On Up has slammed Liz Truss for walking out to it at the Conservative party conference today.

The annual Tory conference has been going on in Birmingham this week, and before the party leader’s big speech, they always walk on to stage soundtracked by a song. In 2018 Theresa May danced to Dancing Queen, and this year Liz Truss chose to enter the stage to the tunes of Moving On Up by M People.

Michael Pickering, who formed the band back in the 90s, has spoken out about the use of his song.

“So sad it got used by this shower of a government”, he said. “I don’t want my song being a soundtrack to lies.”

One Twitter user said the song was “an apt choice” and they’re hopeful the Tory government will soon be “moving on out”.

Other people questioned why they’d chosen the song and lyrics:

It seems the Tories are fans of M People, because back in 2020 at the party conference, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson referenced the lyrics to their song Search for the Hero.

The Tories aren’t having a great time so far at their conference. At one event, higher education minister Andrea Jenkyns confused everyone by vowing to clamp down on “Harry Potter studies” degrees – when there aren’t any at UK unis. She said people would rather learn about Harry Potter than construction, but there are in fact hundreds of construction-related degree courses at universities.

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