John Lamont: Political Spin

The junior Scotland Office minister and MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk reveals his love of Kylie, Coldplay and Culture Club.

What was the first record that you ever bought?

It was a Kylie Minogue number, I Should Be So Lucky. I was a massive fan of Neighbours when I was growing up and Kylie was a big part of that. When she became a music sensation, I was a bit of a fan.

What record will always get you on the dancefloor?

I thought about fibbing about this, but all my friends are going to call me out if I’m not very, very honest. My dancefloor number is S Club 7’s Reach.

Do you do the classic dance routine?

I have my own version. It’s a great song and it’s certainly one that gets everybody on the dancefloor. Although it’s not universally popular, sometimes you have to request it in bars. It’s not all DJs’ go-to the tune, and when my sister-in-law had her 30th birthday a few years back, she was in this bar playing grungy music. I said, ‘you have to play the S Club 7’. Nobody was dancing until S Club 7 came on.

What is your karaoke song?

I never do karaoke. I sing in the shower and that’s the extent of it.

What do you sing in the shower?

Everything and anything! But I’m not the world’s best singer – judge other people, but I’m not a karaoke person myself.

What song do you want played at your funeral?

Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling! The reason I love this song so much is, in 2017, the year I became an MP, we did this campaign video in the final week and basically it was lots of clips from the previous four or five weeks of the election campaign with lots of people that I’d met, lots of people who were supporting me, the campaign team and various other people, and that was the soundtrack that we used. It obviously was a very exciting time in my life, that particular week, the day I got elected, and that song just brings back so many happy memories.

What song is guaranteed to make you cry?

I wouldn’t say there’s one song or type of music that is guaranteed to make me cry, but the last song I heard which made me mildly emotional – I’m a massive fan of Schitt’s Creek and there was an acoustic version of Simply The Best, which was sung by one of the main characters to his other half. Obviously Simply The Best is a song which you normally hear in a very upbeat way, but this is a very unusual version and given the storyline around it, it was a nice number.

What music would you always associate with your childhood?

I remember when I was growing up and one of the big excitements in my life was my mum and dad bought our first video player and brand new TV. Me and my brothers were massive The A-Team fans, and in one of the episodes of A-Team, bizarrely, Boy George was on. Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon was the song they managed to incorporate into The A-Team. At that age, me and my brother just watched the same things over and over and over again, and that song is very much ingrained in my head.

What record would you be embarrassed to owning up to having in your collection?

Mambo No. 5. I don’t know why it’s there, I must have downloaded it in a moment of weakness.

What was the last band you went to see?

I went to see Coldplay in Wembley. It was during last summer’s leadership contest and I had taken on the job of running Rishi Sunak’s Scotland campaign. When Rishi asked me to do it, I knew the Coldplay concert was going to be the same night as the Scottish hustings. I said, ‘I’m happy to do it, as long as you know there’s no way I can be in Scotland for the hustings because I’m going to be in London watching Coldplay’. It was the most spectacular concert.