Rishi Sunak has finally ripped the plaster off and called a general election. He must have thought things could only get better. Sadly for him, it appeared they could only get wetter.
The prime minister announced his decision to call a general election on 4 July in the driving rain and with the sound of the song Things Can Only Get Better, synonymous with Labour’s 1997 election landslide, blaring from a boombox in the background. The anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray, whose longstanding protest outside parliament has been the backing track to many a political TV interview, said he chose the tune because it was the “top trolling song for the Conservatives”. “I thought about what would be the best trolling tune if he announced the election,” he said. “And of course, it had to be Things Can Only Get Better. Because everybody can relate to that and the 1997 election. “I didn’t do it for Labour. I did it because it was the top trolling song for the Conservatives.” What is the song? First released in 1993, Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream initially only reached No 24 in the UK charts. Peter Cunnah and Al Mackenzie were the band’s lead members, and the science broadcaster Brian Cox was among its live lineup. The song climbed to No 1 in the charts in 1994 after the band toured with Take That.
Why did Labour use the song in their 1997 campaign? The Red Flag, a song first written in 1889 and adopted by socialist movements around the world, was the campaign song of choice for Labour leaders before Tony Blair. In an attempt to show the party under Blair was modern and dynamic, Things Will Only Get Better was made Labour’s official campaign song during the party’s 1997 campaign. The change worked. The song re-entered the Top 20. How was the song used in the campaign? D:Ream lead singer Cunnah sang the song at several rallies. The song was also used in a now famous party political broadcast that showed voters from all stripes heading to the ballot box on a bright, picturesque day led by a mysteriously out-of-frame man dressed in a smart-casual blue shirt who was revealed at the end to be Blair himself.
Cunnah said he got a bearhug from Alastair Campbell when Labour won in 1997. He said: “It hurt – he’s a big man. I met Tony Blair several times. He plays guitar and loved the song. He was always asking me what the chords were.” Why is the song still so popular with the Labour party? The song is not only a classic – it harks back to a time when Labour was in the ascent. The song was sung at the 2022 Labour conference by delegates and referenced in a conference speech by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, in 2023. Predictions of a Labour landslide like the one seen in 1997 have led to comparisons between Starmer and Blair, though some have warned that Blair in 1997 was more personally popular than Starmer is in 2024. In March, a YouGov poll found that Starmer had a net approval rating of -24%. That same month in 1997, Blair had a rating of +22 going into the general election.