Keir Starmer chooses EU anthem as song that ‘sums up Labour Party’
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Sir Keir Starmer has chosen the European Union’s official anthem as the song he believes “sums up the Labour Party”.
The leader of the opposition picked Ode to Joy, the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th symphony, which he described as “incredibly powerful”.
Ode to Joy was adopted by the EU as its official anthem two decades ago and the song became a favourite of Remain activists, whose campaign resulted in it reaching the top of the iTunes chart on the eve of Britain’s departure from the bloc in 2020.
Asked by Classic FM: “What piece of classical music sums up the Labour Party?”, Sir Keir replied: “One of the pieces I’ve got is Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the choral Ode to Joy.
“You’ve got the orchestra, you’ve got the voices, you’ve got this big combination. This is very sort of Labour. You’re getting everybody, Beethoven’s getting everybody onto the stage for this. I talk about a national mission for the next Labour government. This is a sense of something. It has got a sense of destiny and is hugely optimistic.
“And so for me, that’s been hardwired in me for a long, long time. So I would go with that. There are many others that I could associate with the Labour Party, but it’s that sense of moving forward to a better place, is incredibly powerful.”
Sir Keir went on to say Ode to Joy was “obviously used when the [Berlin] Wall came down, or shortly afterwards”.
“There was a huge concert, and this was the sort of lead music of the wall has come down, there’s a brighter future that we are going confidently towards and so it meant something for the world, but for me in my twenties starting out on my journey it brought those together in the most powerful way and I’ve always loved it.”
Sir Keir was Labour’s Brexit secretary in the shadow cabinet led by Jeremy Corbyn, and the party campaigned in 2019 to hold a “confirmatory” second referendum on EU membership.
As leader he has repeatedly ruled out rejoining the bloc but insisted on the need for a “closer trading relationship” with Brussels.
Senior Conservative politicians rounded on Sir Keir in the wake of his comments. Matt Vickers, the deputy chairman of the Conservatives, said: “It should come as no surprise that Sir Keir is dancing to Brussels’ tune.
“Sir Keir spent years trying to block Brexit and overturn the largest democratic vote in this country’s history. Clearly, he still can’t get over his obsession.
“Labour will do everything they can to lead us back into the EU. Only the Conservatives can be trusted to protect the will of the people.”
Lord Frost, the Conservative peer who was Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, added: “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, with Schiller’s Ode to Joy, is one of the most sublime, uplifting, and profound works of the human spirit.
“It is a huge pity that the final movement’s main theme has been appropriated by the bureaucratic monstrosity of the European Union.
“Of course one must suspect Starmer of making a pro-EU political point, but I don’t think the rest of us should be led to feel we can’t appreciate the music for political reasons.”
‘Pathétique Symphony’
David Jones, a former cabinet minister, added: “I’d say Labour is more a Pathétique Symphony with a tone-deaf conductor.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sir Keir added that he enjoyed listening to classical music “quite intensely” at home to unwind from the day-to-day stresses of leading Labour.
“It’s different emotions at different times, so sometimes it’s the powerful symphonies that can be very uplifting,” he said.
“These days, it’s more likely to be the end of a really hard day in Parliament, a sort of quiet piano sonata, but just something that removes you. I find that when I listen to classical music, I can have it on in the background, but that isn’t my preferred way of listening to it.
A source close to Sir Keir said it is “well-documented” that he is a fan of Beethoven.
