Burnley singer’s punk Margaret Thatcher song in ‘The Iron Lady’ film

Michael “Haggis” Hargreaves, whose Burnley band “Notsensibles” wrote “I’m in Love with Margaret Thatcher” in 1979, was approached by film bosses to use the hit in “The Iron Lady” starring Meryl Streep.

The 49-year-old singer was delighted to have the song used in the big budget biopic of the iconic British Prime Minister 30 years after the track was first written.

The film, which hit cinema screens worldwide on Friday, uses the tongue-in-cheek track over a 90 second montage of scenes from the Thatcher political era.

Michael, who still lives in Burnley, did not go to the glitzy London premiere last week, but will watch the film with the rest of the band who have recently reformed.

He said: “It was unexpected. It really came out of the blue. We just got a call two months ago from Fox Pathe saying they wanted to use the song for the film.

“We have not seen it yet. But I think it sums up the times.

“It is a big £30m. box office smash hit.”

The song was originally written in 1979 as the band’s second single which reached the Top 10 of the UK Indie Chart.

He said: “It was basically happening around the time of the election. We were an apolitical band – we didn’t have a ‘politics’ as such.

“We thought it would be one in the eye for the establishment. It was an anti-establishment punk anthem.

“We didn’t want to get into the politics. It was just silly. We wrote the song in 20 minutes. We just wanted to write a song about Margaret Thatcher that took the Michael out of southern punk rock music. It was a very tongue-in-cheek sort of thing.”

After a number of reconciliations, the band recently re-formed after the death of their manager.

The band are performing a come-back gig at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge on February 10th.

HIT: Burnley band Notsensibles will see their song “I’m in love with Margaret Thatcher” feature in “The Iron Lady”. (s)