Kier Starmer has just revealed his favourite music from his days at the University of Leeds.
The prime minister said he’s a fan of the late 70s Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice – a group he discovered after moving to Leeds to study law.
“The whole cultural experience going from rural village life to a really busy, diverse, fantastic city like Leeds, and it came with a new chapter of music,” he told BBC Radio 3.
“I love the music [Orange Juice’s], I love the lyrics, but also for me, it’s this memory of going to Leeds,” Keir added.
The prime minister was a keen musician throughout his childhood, playing violin, flute, piano and recorder, and won a Guildhall School of Music and Drama scholarship.
He says he still listens to music every day as a form of escape.
In an interview recorded at Chequers last week, he also expressed his love for northern soul, which he enjoys with his family.
He said: “If you can imagine me, sleeves rolled up, chopping in the kitchen, happy, listening to northern soul and my daughter singing away at the top of her voice.”
When asked about the decline of music in the school curriculum, he said it was a “concern” to see the arts becoming less popular. “I think we’ve let music, creatives and art slip too much. It is a concern that the numbers have gone down. I think to be fair, we need to signal what an A-Level in music might give to you.”
Keir added that the government was determined to ease some of the problems caused by Brexit which mean British musicians are finding it difficult to tour in Europe. “It’s had a huge inhibiting effect. And I genuinely don’t think anybody voted in that referendum, whether they voted to remain or to leave, to make it harder for musicians and artists to perform in other countries.”
“I absolutely understand the urgency and the need for this, and I’m absolutely determined that we will do whatever we can to make it easier,” the prime minister added.
Featured image via YouTube
