Chumbawamba guitarist continues scrap with Winston Peters, accuses him of hijacking song

British punk band Chumbawamba has continued its criticism of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, saying he was a wealthy politician who had “hijacked” their working class song.

The band’s members have threatened legal action against the NZ First leader after he played their song Tubthumping at a party rally last weekend and again in Parliament.

In an op-ed published by the Guardian, former lead guitarist Boff Whalley said it was one of many universal songs which had been hijacked by politicians.

“Because that’s the thing with songs, with literature, with art, theatre, cinema, with most of the beautiful, creative, cultural things we love – they are very rarely created by those on the political right.”

Whalley wrote that Peters was clearly modelling himself on populist politicians like former US President Donald Trump and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who were ultra-wealthy yet claimed to be “of the people.

“Their rhetoric is anti-elite, and yet they clearly and definably are the elite,” he wrote.

“Let me be clear: the song Tubthumping was written to celebrate the resilience and tenacity of working-class folk who keep fighting when the chips are down.

“It has nothing whatsoever in common with wealthy politicians with extremist anti-liberal agendas.”

Chumbawamba singer Dunstan Bruce said this week that the band had asked its record label to intervene with a cease and desist letter.

Peters has denied that he has been asked by the anarchist punk band to stop playing their best-known song at his rallies.

At the same rally, he likened Te Pāti Māori statements to Nazi Germany.

Tubthumping, with its popular refrain “I get knocked down, but I get up again” was released in 1997. Chumbawamba, which described itself as anarcho-communist, broke up in 2012.

The band had previously expressed surprise when UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage had used the song at a rally in 2011.

In his op-ed, Whalley said the band had also warned Trump about using the song when he was first running for president, sending him a cease and desist letter.

“Which all makes it all the more obvious that, simply, the right doesn’t have any good songs. That’s why they keep trying to nick ours.”