At a recent event in Parliament the Arts Council asked MPs to share favourite bits of music with them. Tom Levitt chose a favourite from his teenage years, Peaches En Regalia by Frank Zappa. ‘I chose it because it was happy and inspiring’, he said. Andy Jupp, an East Midlands based DJ known as the Charity Shop DJ, ran his ‘World Record Holders Workshop’ and had MPs thinking about music and what it meant to them.

The aim of the Arts Council England day of activity was to highlight the role the arts play in every community. MPs were asked to bring along their favourite record – preferably vinyl – and be photographed with it, explaining why that piece of music was so important to them.

Andy Jupp said ‘Charity Shop DJ tours the world celebrating who we are and the music that we love. I wanted to find out what music is special to our MPs, and to discover something about who they are. And what a great day it was.  The only things that were spinning were the tunes! I sincerely hope that this humble project may go a little way to encouraging a more open relationship between politics and people.’

‘I listened to Tom’s favourite afterwards – it was a great choice ‘, he said.

All the images of the MPs can be found on the Charity Shop DJ website – and the reasons why they selected that tune.