Oh dear. Just as Liz Truss delivered a mostly blip-free Tory Party Conference speech, strutting out confidently to M People's Moving On Up, a spanner was thrown into the works — as the song's writer declared himself 'livid' at its use.
'So apparently we can't stop Truss walking out to our song, very weird!', tweeted Michael Pickering, the band's founder. 'So sad it got used by this shower of a government.' Labour used it 'with permission in 90's, he reminded the Tory leader, adding 'I don't want my song being a soundtrack to lies.'
On the face of it, the lyrics were a decent fit for this bouncy, punchy bit of political showmanship meant to demonstrate an embattled leader ready to tough out stormy days: 'Cause I'm movin' on up, you're movin' on out, movin' on up, nothin' can stop me, movin' on up, you're movin' on out, time to break free, nothin' can stop me, yeah.'
To really drive her message home, the words 'Getting Britain Moving' were beamed onto the wall behind her (not a bad idea, as people will remember the letters of Theresa May's slogan, 'Building A Country That Works For Everyone', literally fell off while she was delivering her speech).
But Pickering said he 'sincerely hopes she listens to the lyrics' ... and they do go on: 'You've done me wrong, your time is up, you took a sip from the devil's cup, you broke my heart, there's no way back, move right out here baby, go on pack your bags'.
M People is hardly the first band to take issue with its music being used in a political context. Everyone from Adele to The Rolling Stones to Neil Young and Village People (to name but a few ...) hit out at Donald Trump for using their music in his 2016 and 2020 campaign rallies.
But, as in the UK, the US's copyright laws protect politicians in most of these cases. They allow political candidates to use just about any song they want, as long as they’re played at a stadium, arena or other venue that already has a public-performance license through a songwriters’ association such as ASCAP or BMI.