HARDEST RAPPER OUT

[imhim]

Michael Gove whams students with rap rendition

 

 

 

 

Education secretary and self-confessed rap lover impresses audience with 'street credibility' in Wham Rap! performance

 

 

It may not be quite as nausea-inducing as David Cameron's insistence that his favourite song as a youth was The Jam's tirade against privilege, The Eton Rifles, but Michael Gove's decision to perform Wham Rap!, about joblessness under a Conservative government, certainly comes close.

 

 

 

After the education secretary's claim that he enjoys listening to rap, or a variant of it called chap-hop, a student asked Gove during a school visit for a taster of his favourite rap.

 

 

 

While America has a fist-bumping president who duets with BB King, the UK has an education secretary who prefers to perform an early 80s "vanilla rap" by Wham!

 

 

 

"Hey everybody, look at me, I've got street credibility," intoned the education secretary. "I may not have a job but I have a good time, with the boys that I meet down on the line," he added, to laughter from the students.

 

 

 

Gove is not the first British politician to face a stern test of his musical prowess. In 1993, fellow Conservative John Redwood was ridiculed after he appeared to struggle with the Welsh national anthem and tried to mime along instead.

 

 

 

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, was recorded singing a Bob Marley song in 2013. According to the Daily Telegraph, Johnson said he would "like to be the lead singer of an international rock group".

 

 

 

There were mixed reviews of Gove's performance at a BBC News event on Thursday where students had the opportunity to interview him.

 

 

 

Former Tory parliamentary colleague Louise Mensch tweeted her appreciation of the fact that Gove, who also professed his love for Tinie Tempah, had "the guts to start rapping badly in front of a bunch of schoolkids rather than ducking" the question.

 

 

 

She said it was no coincidence that he chose "a song about life on the dole #WelfareReform #HeyJerkYouWork", and added: "Snoop Govey-Go-oh-oh-oh-ove".

 

 

 

Former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott tweeted: "#goverap Public School Enemy."

Gove himself admitted: "You can tell I can't sing."