D:Ream react to their hit song playing through PM's General Election announcement

Rishi Sunak stood in the rain while the song played. Credit: PA

Do pop groups ever regret letting politicians use their music?

For the band behind New Labour’s 1997 victory anthem Things Can Only Get Better, it appears so.

D:Ream have said they would deny a request from Sir Keir Starmer to use the track in the upcoming General Election.

The group's founding members Alan Mackenzie and Peter Cunnah said they were dismayed to hear their number one hit play through a loudspeaker as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a July 4 General Election on a wet afternoon in Downing Street.

The pair told LBC their first thought was “not again”.

Rishi Sunak calls a General Election as protesters play Things Can Only Get Better

Speaking from his recording studio at home in Donegal, Cunnah told LBC: “The fact that it’s gone back to a political thing, I find disturbing. I was thinking, can we get on with our lives? But now it’s come back.

“You question, are we just some sort of protest song on a speaker down at the end of a street? It’s like some very odd piece of gravity that you just can’t escape.”

The band expressed regret at letting Sir Tony Blair use the track for his general election victory in 1997, saying they were accused of “having blood on their hands” after the UK got involved with the war in Iraq.

“I remember clearly, there was this wonderful sea change, and the nation had this feeling that there was a need for change,” Cunnah said.

“Everyone was really behind it and giving Labour the benefit of that doubt. But after the war, I became politically homeless.”

Peter Cunnah, the lead singer of D:Ream, whose song, Things Can Only Get Better, was originally released in 1993 Credit: Neil Munns/PA

Mackenzie, who spoke to LBC from his home in the Midlands, said: “I don’t think politics and music should be linked.

“It’s happened to a lot of other bands as well in America and here because songs get sort of intrinsically linked to something, it can really affect it in a negative way.

“I mean, I’ll be voting to get the Tories out, but I don’t really want the song to be linked to that.”

When asked what they would say if they had been approached by Sir Keir with a request to use one of their songs, Mackenzie told LBC: “There’s no way – our songs and politics, never again. I’ve learned the hard way. No, no, no,” Cunnah agreed.

“This is a change of guard, I don’t see this as an election. It’s just a change of guard, someone handing the baton on.”

Starmer brushed off the comments, the Labour leader said his party would find a different song. He told LBC radio: "Well, look, we’re not in 1997. We’re in 2024.

"The choice before the country is absolutely stark. We’ve had now 14 years of chaos and division. And if the Tories get back in there’s just going to be more of the same."

"We can turn the page, we can start anew rebuild our country with Labour. And we will have a song for that moment if we’re privileged enough to come in to serve."

The original D:Ream line-up also included now-Professor Brian Cox, but the group split up shortly after New Labour’s victory in 1997.

Cunnah and Mackenzie reunited in 2008 and are preparing for their performance at Glastonbury this summer.

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