Richard Madeley blasts Rishi Sunak heckler after Things Can Only Get Better drowned out election speech
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Richard Madeley has claimed to be speaking for the nation after hitting out at a heckler interrupting Rishi Sunak’s General Election speech on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister stood in the rain yesterday, drowned out by the weather and Things Can Only Get Better playing on speakers, announcing that the General Election would be taking place on July 4.
As you can imagine, thanks to the pouring rain, campaigner Steve Bray blasting the song out, and ‘hot podium guy’, the endless internet memes were born.
But Good Morning Britain host Richard isn’t having it.
Before fuming about the song, Richard began to co-star Susanna Reid: ‘The huge question this morning is, honestly, why no umbrella?’
Everyone watching was asking the same of course, as Susanna also agreed: ‘Why no umbrella, why no canopy, why not indoors? This is the defining moment, Things Can Only Get Wetter, absolutely drenched outside number 10, whose idea was it to be there at the lectern when they’ve got a perfectly serviceable lectern indoors.’
She went on: ‘Of course, I don’t know how much you were able to hear after Steve Bray fired up speakers and started drowning the Prime Minister out with Tony Blair’s anthem from 1997.’
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Richard then blasted: ‘I’m all for free speech and big loud protests outside Downing Street, but when the Prime Minister, whatever party, is actually addressing the nation about something really important, shouldn’t that noise be cut a little bit?
‘Shouldn’t the police have some power to cut it down a little bit, because we want to hear the PM.’
He added: ‘It does beg the question, at an important moment like that, I think the nation has the right to hear what the Prime Minister was saying – that’s my view anyway.’
Richard Madeley was fuming (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Tony Blair’s 1997 election soundtrack Things Can Only Get Better by the Northern Irish band D:Ream was being played by anti-Brexit campaigner Bray, who said he decided to blast the track out of an amplifier because it was a ‘top trolling song for the Conservatives’.
Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray said he decided to blast the track out of an amplifier because it was a ‘top trolling song for the Conservatives’.
The lyrics of the song, first released in 1993, read: ‘So teach me now that things can only get better / Only get, they only get, take it on from here / You know, I know that things can only get better.’
The music, that once marked Blair’s success, only came to an end when Bray’s amplifiers got soaked, though he later said: ‘I’ll just buy some more.’
Thanks to the rain and the song, Rishi’s speech descended into chaos (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
He added: ‘I thought about what would be the best trolling tune if he announced the election.
‘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.’
Bray said he received complaints that some spectators couldn’t hear Sunak’s speech because of the song, leading to him being banned from protesting outside Parliament and Whitehall, and that the police were ‘trying to shut us down all the time’.
Things Can Only Get Better is of course the most appropriate song for today, but let me throw another one into the ring to add a little variety… pic.twitter.com/MZmu1YfBKm— Brian Cox (@ProfBrianCox) May 22, 2024
Meanwhile Professor Brian Cox, who was the keyboardist for the band, couldn’t help but play along as the song picked up momentum online, and has started climbing back up the charts.
He wrote on X: ‘Things Can Only Get Better is of course the most appropriate song for today, but let me throw another one into the ring to add a little variety…’
The 56-year-old physicist attached a clip with Rishi, 44, walking away from the podium as circus music played.
Replying to a fan, Brian added: ‘We’re going to have some fun :-).’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
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