The writer behind an anti-Keir Starmer Christmas song has spoken out after it placed 37th in the festive charts.
Chris Middleton told GB News: “It just shows you how much the song resonated with people. The message of it, how much anger there is.”
Despite missing the top spot, Middleton believes the campaign achieved its goals.
“We made a big song and dance about it. This was an issue that Labour had brought in the summer and they tried to sweep it under the rug,” he said.
Chris Middleton spoke on GB News
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“We’ve certainly hopefully embarrassed them publicly,” he added, suggesting the campaign helped bring Labour’s winter fuel payment policy “back into the public consciousness.”
“Freezing This Christmas,” performed by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers, is a satirical remake of Mud’s 1974 track “Lonely This Christmas.”
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The song mocks Labour’s decision to strip winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners.
Its lyrics include: “It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home, it’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm. It’ll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home, this Christmas.”
The track features audio from a Good Housekeeping magazine interview where the Prime Minister discussed a pensioner who “doesn’t get out of bed till midday because she doesn’t want to turn the heating on.”
The song was written in just one hour by Chris Middleton, a 33-year-old freelance writer from Newcastle.
Chris Middleton spoke on GB News
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Middleton found singer Dean Ager, 51, online and paid him £50 to record the vocals in 15 minutes.
“Chris contacted me and said ‘I’ve got this song – can you do it?'” Ager told The Telegraph. “When he told me we were number one on the iTunes download charts, I was jumping around in excitement like a little kid.”
The campaign has already raised over £24,000 for Age UK through its JustGiving page.
Remarkably, the two creators have never met in person, living at opposite ends of the country.
The BBC faced criticism for not playing the song, despite it topping the Official Singles Downloads Charts.
Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, called it “an absurdity” that the BBC “should not play a song that is selling so well.”
The BBC responded: “We play a wide range of music across our stations – we don’t have specific policies on tracks or ban any songs. Decisions on what we play are always made with the relevant audiences and context in mind.”
The song ultimately lost out to Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” which secured the festive number one spot with 12.6 million streams in the final week.
