London: The song has a catchy chorus and a not-so-subtle message.
“She’s a liar, liar. She’s a liar, liar. You can’t trust her, no, no, no, no,” it goes, accompanied by snippets of its target, Prime Minister Theresa May, variously laughing, speaking earnestly and, in one heavily edited clip, apparently herself saying, “No, no, no, no.”
Just over a week before a general election in Britain, a scathing song lampooning May for her perceived political flip-flopping appears to have captured the national mood, climbing to the top of the UK iTunes chart. Released on Friday, the song was number two on the chart by Monday, behind a remix of Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s Despacito, featuring Justin Bieber. Liar, Liar has been viewed more than 597,000 times on YouTube.
May has come under criticism for a series of U-turns.
She vowed she would not call an early election and then did just that. She supported Britain’s remaining in the European Union (EU), yet is now overseeing its departure. She has been criticised for backtracking from new plans to finance care for older people, even as she has portrayed herself as the champion of those “just about managing” to get by.
The song Liar, Liar is the work of Captain Ska, a politically-fuelled ensemble of London-based session musicians who came to national prominence in 2010 with the first version of Liar, Liar. That was aimed at the austerity policies of the coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron. The band was founded by Jake Painter, and the song is being promoted by an organisation called the People’s Assembly Against Austerity.
Proponents of the song have accused some broadcasters of censorship for not playing the song, including the BBC. The BBC said it would not be playing the song because of editorial guidelines requiring the broadcaster to remain impartial during elections.
“We do not ban songs or artists,” a spokesman said, noting, however, that “the UK is currently in an election period so we will not be playing the song.”
