New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is an indie fan whose favorite groups include The Smiths and The Wedding Present

While the US celebrated Independence Day, the UK was seeing an across-the-board landslide victory for the center-left Labour Party, electing Keir Starmer as their new Prime Minister, the first Labour PM in 14 years. What do we know about Starmer? Musically, we mean. Having come of age in the late-’70s and early ’80s and attended University of Leeds, he was very much into the indie music scene of that time. He says “My Favourite Dress” by Leeds band The Wedding Present is favorite song, or at least his favorite song by the band.

“I was at Leeds University in the early ’80s and met Keith Gregory and David Gedge through my friend John before the band started, so I was aware of The Wedding Present from the very start of their career,” Starmer was quoted in the book All the Songs Sound The Same about the band. “My favourite song has to be ‘My Favourite Dress’. David has managed to perfectly distil the tortuous agonising feelings of jealousy into three minutes of angst. The guitar hook is pretty great too.”

Meanwhile, in an article in The Financial Times about “The Music That Made Me,” Starmer says he also like Orange Juice and The Smiths, citing “one of the early Smiths gigs at Dingwalls in Camden” as the most memorable live show he ever saw. “Going to Leeds was an introduction to a whole new musical world. And even now I am still exploring new music.”

Keir was a musical child and learned violin with Norman Cook who would go on to play bass in The Housemartins before becoming known around the world as Fatboy Slim.

As for recent musical things, Starmer told the Financial Times that Stormzy’s This Is What I Mean is a current favorite, adding, “Anyone who has liked bands like Velvet Underground will hear some of that coming through in Stormzy’s music now.” As for gigs, Starmer and and his wife went to see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium.

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