SNP’s musical campaign efforts fall on deaf ears

With only four weeks to go until the general election, party campaigns are rapidly ramping up. Politicians and staffers are desperately searching for more creative (and crazy) ways of getting voters’ attention — and north of the border the Nats have mobilised the musical wing of their party.

Taylor Swift is in town for the start of the UK leg of her Eras tour and the SNP’s Swift-mania is in overdrive. One press release from the Nats managed to include a whole, um, 11 references to the star’s songs, including a line from social security secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville that read:

There’s no question that the Tories are out of Style in Scotland — and as the main challengers in every Tory-held seat, only a vote for the SNP can send Sunak packing in his Getaway Car with a clear message that We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Goodness. This morning First Minister John Swinney continued the cringe-fest by insisting that renaming the loch in his Scottish constituency to ‘Loch Tay Tay’ creates ‘a new bond between me and the Swifties’. The newest SNP leader went on to announce his favourite Taylor song was ‘You Need to Calm Down’, in which the American singer croons: ‘You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace.’ Easier said than done…

And over the last 24 hours it has transpired that Scotland’s First Minister, who was dubbed ‘sexy’ by an activist at an election campaign launch last weekend, has served as many a songwriter’s muse himself. In 1982 Nocturnal Vermin, a punk band from Edinburgh, wrote ‘John Swinney (We Salute You)’ about their classmate’s quest to save Scotland. More recently the Daily Reckless’s Tommy Mackay — himself a punk musician-turned-comedian who founded ‘The Sensational Alex Salmond Gastric Band’ — released a less flattering tune about the new First Minister’s rather dull presentation style. The sedative-referencing lyrics include: ‘Here comes Swinney, pass the mogadon.’

The SNP is of course no stranger to musical MPs, with Runrig bandmate Pete Wishart having represented Perth and North Perthshire since 2001. Might he have inspired one of the SNP’s parliamentary hopefuls? Mr S has discovered that the party’s candidate for Falkirk is trying to woo voters with a song of his own. Tony Giugliano joined forces with Scots group The Bletherin to produce a ‘We are Scotland – Special Version’ that came out last week. ‘Come and join us,’ the long-standing SNP activist warbles. ‘People say it’s time to write a new constitution. And find our way out, escaping from this broken union. We have a voice, and time is on our side.’ Crikey. It’s certainly one way to campaign…

But the Nats will need more than music to save their seats. Labour is consistently polling ahead of the SNP in Scotland, ahead by an average of six points, while pollsters predict Sir Keir’s lefty lot could wipe out most of the nationalist presence in the central belt. One pro-independence activist has even put money on the Nats returning less than 10 seats at the election. Mr S reckons the SNP needs more than Swinney’s Swiftie credentials — and Giugliano’s impassioned vocals — to help them out of this mess…