'Two tier' BBC refuses to air Keir Starmer parody despite playing anti-Thatcher song

The BBC has been criticised for its decision (Image: Getty)

The BBC has been accused of being "two tier" after refusing to broadcast a protest song against Sir Kier Starmer after playing an anti-Margaret Thatcher tune.

Sir Starmer and Granny Harmer’s protest track Freezing This Christmas has climbed into the Top 40 after a "passionate grassroots campaign", the official chart says.

It scored the best-selling and most-downloaded single of the week, topping the Official Download Chart and Official Singles Sales Chart.

The BBC has continued to resist playing the track, which adopts the tune to Mud's 1974 hit Lonely this Christmas. It says the decision is "in line with what our audience expect to hear". The BBC has faced pressure to play the song.

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Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, has said it is "an absurdity" that the broadcaster "should not play a song that is selling so well", MailOnline reports.

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Congratulations to “Freezing This Christmas” who have just been named Number 1 in the music charts.

Have a listen. ??????pic.twitter.com/GoXxh2Tdb4

— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) December 15, 2024

In addition, the musicians behind the tune have claimed that their efforts to reach number one are being thwarted by radio stations refusing to play it to their audiences.

Marketer and freelance writer Chris Middleton, 33, wrote the song's lyrics. These 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."

In 1980, the BBC aired the anti-Thatcher track, Stand Down Margaret by the Beat, according to The Telegraph, which called for the resignation of the then-Prime Minister.

The tune was played on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Cheggers Plays Pop, a children’s show.

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The lyrics of the song included: "Our lives seem petty in your cold grey hands/ Would you give a second thought/ Would you ever give a damn, I doubt it/ Stand down Margaret."

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Joanna Marchong, the investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which runs an Axe the Tax campaign to scrap the BBC licence fee, said: "Licence fee payers will be appalled by the Beeb’s blatant bias.

"The BBC claims to be impartial, yet they’re refusing to play Freezing This Christmas despite its chart-topping success, based on what they think listeners want.

"BBC bosses must end this two-tier broadcasting and focus on serving the public fairly, not pushing their own narrow agenda."

The BBC said: "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."