By George Matlock
As many U.K. Elton fans know, Britain is in the midst of a General, or parliamentary, Election on June 7, 2001. Incumbent Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair is looking for a second successive victory. If you are suffering from election fatigue, we have done our bit to provide you some lighter relief!
Sir Tim Rice, Elton’s lyricist on The Lion King, Aida, The Road to El Dorado, and 1980s song Legal Boys, is a party activist in the main opposition party, The Conservatives. That became apparent on May 29, 2001, when the Conservatives, or Tory, party leader the Rt. Hon. William Hague MP, visited consituency Kingston-upon-Thames in west London.
Right behind Hague, on the platform with the banners, was a chirpy looking Sir Tim.
Meanwhile, Sir Elton John, who prominently gave his blessing to a Labour Government at the last election in 1997, has been rather quiet this time around. Elton has not been as profile as ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, who switched allegiances from supporting the Conservatives in the past when they were in office, to backing Labour in 2001, also now in office.
Elton is reputed to have backed the Conservatives at a 1959 student election in his college. But he also swung the other way to back U.S. President Bill Clinton’s v.p. Al Gore in the hotly contested presidential elections of 2000 – but lost to rival of the Right, George W. Bush.
Perhaps Elton has realised it is best to stay out of politics and let the audience make up its own mind?
Happily, Elton and Tim have a professional relationship, so there is no need for the legal boys!
