Blur drummer Dave Rowntree selected as Labour candidate | Politics News - MASHAHER

Dave Rowntree, the drummer for Blur, has been selected as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

Rowntree will stand for the Conservative-held Mid Sussex seat, hoping to turn it red for the first time.

The constituency, covering Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and the Mid Sussex villages, is currently represented by Mims Davies.

In a statement, the musician turned politician said: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to become Labour’s first Mid Sussex MP.

“Residents have their best chance in a generation to make their vote count and return a Labour MP to Parliament.

“The Tories have run out of ideas, and the Lib Dems have run out of steam.

“I’m running for Parliament to provide the energy and vision the area so desperately needs.”

The Mid Sussex seat was previously held by Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames, from May 1997 until November 2019.

The Mid Sussex Labour group posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday afternoon: “We think Dave will be an excellent and very successful candidate.”

In a statement, the group added: “Our constituency chair, Pam Haigh, is delighted to announce Dave Rowntree as our parliamentary candidate for General Election 24.

“Dave is a long-term party member who has served in many party roles including (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate) PPC and County Councillor.

“We look forward to working with him to get him elected as Mid Sussex’s first Labour MP.”

Rowntree has yet to share the news with his more than 60,000 followers on X.

However he used the platform to take aim at Chancellor Jeremy Hunt‘s spring budget announcement in the Commons, describing it as a “waste of an hour”.

The drummer wrote: “Tiny policy announcements. Fiddling with the tax system. Bogus productivity savings rather than proper funding. AI fixing all problems.”

Rowntree revealed Blur‘s excitement ahead of their triumphant “bucket list” Wembley Stadium comeback in July last year.

He was reunited with bandmates Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and Alex James for their first headline show since 2015.

Read more:
The huge questions that remain after rabbit-free budget
Hunt: Budget ‘absolutely not’ last throw of dice before election
Starmer brands PM and chancellor ‘Chuckle Brothers of decline’

Which other famous faces have gone into politics?

Rowntree is far from the first famous figure to try their hand at politics.

Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson went into politics full-time following her retirement from acting and won a seat for Labour in the 1992 election. She remained in parliament until 1999.

TV personality Gyles Brandreth also won a seat in the 1992 general election and served as a conservative MP until 1997.

Others haven’t been quite so well-received, though.

In December, comedian Eddie Izzard failed in her bid to become Labour’s candidate at the upcoming election.

In 2001, glamour model Katie Price won just 713 votes when she stood as an independent in Stretford and Urmston – losing the deposit she paid to run.

Overseas, Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger spent eight years as governor of California.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was known as a comedian and actor before assuming his current role in 2019.

In 2018, Rowntree joined music stars including Annie Lennox, Paloma Faith, Jamie Cullum and Pink Floyd drummer and co-founder, Nick Mason, to sign a letter demanding an alternative to Brexit, which they branded a “significant threat to the UK’s music industry”.

In December last year, fellow musician Tom Gray, of the rock band Gomez, was selected as the Labour candidate for the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the upcoming general election.

‘Political turning point’

Colchester-born Rowntree’s first job was working for the city’s borough council as a computer programmer, before Blur was signed by record label EMI in 1989.

He later went on to work at a friend’s East London law firm, “helping those at the bottom of the heap”, which he described as a “political turning point”.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Source Agencies