Photo: Facebook/Press
In news that will no doubt enrage Smiths fans (and Johnny Marr) David Cameron has been presented with a limited edition Salford Lads Club T-shirt.
Manchester Evening News journalist Neal Keeling presented the shirt to Cameron when he was visiting the office. “You have made my day. Thank you very much, there is a light that never goes out,” said the Prime Minister.
Cameron's endorsement of the Smiths has not been a happy one. He visted the Lads Club in 2008 and in 2010 selected 'This Charming Man' as one of his Desert Islands Discs. However, shortly after Johnny Marr announced on Twitter that he 'forbid' the Prime Minister listening to the band.
Morrissey echoed his bandmates sentiment, writing "It is true that music is a universal language - the ONLY universal language, and belongs to all, one way or another. However, with fitting grimness I must report that David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags - apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either Meat is Murder or The Queen is Dead were recorded; in fact they were made as a reaction against such violence."
The limited edition Salford Lads t-shirt has sold over 1000 copies. The photo was taken outside the Ordsall club during a 1985 photoshoot, and was used for the inner sleeve of the band's The Queen Is Dead album. Stephen Wright has licensed the picture for the club's T-shirts until November 2015.
Money from the shirts, which are on sale for £15, will be used to fund six young people from the club to go to America as part of a Salford Sioux Project exchange programme.
The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead. Equivalent To The Beatles Crossing Abbey Road. Outside Manchester’s Salford Lads Club. pic.twitter.com/nTbJokq6uo
— Kimster (@zurichflughafen) November 8, 2014
Initially, 80 T-shirts were made by the club, but after the story began to gain publicity, the club has seen a huge demand from across the world, and have now begun printing more. Although if Cameron ever actually wears his, we can see demand dropping off very quickly.
