British band Chumbawamba have called on a populist New Zealand politician to stop playing their hit song Tubthumping at his rallies.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who is deputy prime minister, has used the song at several events.

But Chumbawamba say they do not share his ideas and have not given permission to use it.

The band want their record label to issue a "cease and desist letter". Mr Peters has been approached for comment.

Mr Peters, who is part of New Zealand's coalition government with the larger centre-right National Party, has walked on and off to Tubthumping at several events.

Most recently, the song was played ahead of a speech where Mr Peters talked about plans to remove gender and sexuality lessons from the school curriculum and said that NZ First and their supporters have a "real chance to take back our country".

At a rally last year ahead of the election, he also referenced the song and its famous lyrics: "I get knocked down. But I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down."

In a statement sent to BBC News, the band's former lead guitarist Boff Whalley said: "Chumbawamba wrote the song Tubthumping as a song of hope and positivity, so it seems entirely odd that the 'I get knocked down...' refrain is being used by New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters as he barks his divisive, small-minded, bigoted policies during his recent speeches.

"Chumbawamba would like to make it clear that we did not give permission for Peters to use the song and would ask him to stop using it to try to shore up his misguided political views.

"Chumbawamba does not share any of Peters' ideas on race relations and would like to remind him that the song was written for and about ordinary people and their resilience.

"We have asked our record company Sony to issue a cease and desist notice."

Mr Peters has defended using the song, telling New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB that the party was not using it to benefit financially. In a separate statement to the network, he added that neither he nor his party had received a cease and desist letter.

Released in 1997, Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down) went to number two in the UK singles chart and peaked at number six in the US. It was also a top 10 hit in New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Canada.

The band have had run-ins with politicians and parties in the past. In 2011 they called on the leader of British party UKIP to stop using Tubthumping and in 1998 poured a bucket of ice water over then UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the Brit awards in support of striking dockers on Merseyside.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Simon Atkinson in Sydney and Rob Corp in London

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