Editing Mike Read (section)

===Politics===
Having spoken three times at [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] conferences, including entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner in 2006 with a ten-minute political rap,<ref>{{cite news |last= Duff |first= Oliver |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pandora/could-galloways-party-snub-cause-a-cable-street-riot-418737.html |title= Mike Reads 10-minute rap |work= The Independent |date= 5 October 2006}}</ref> Read said that he was asked to run for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] nomination for the [[2008 London mayoral election|London Mayoral elections in 2008]].<ref>{{cite news |last= Read |first= Mike |url= http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_read/2007/07/im_backing_boris.html |title= I'm Backing Boris |work= The Guardian |date= 17 July 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071218175323/http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_read/2007/07/im_backing_boris.html |archive-date= 18 December 2007 |url-status= dead }}</ref> He subsequently announced that he was instead putting his energies behind the ultimately successful candidate [[Boris Johnson]].

On 21 July 2012, Read spoke at the [[UK Independence Party]]'s South East regional Conference in [[Frimley]], where he was also announced as a member of the party.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/2724-mike-read-speaks-at-frimley |title=Mike Read speaks at Frimley – UK Independence Party |publisher=Ukip.org |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416085212/http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/2724-mike-read-speaks-at-frimley |archive-date=16 April 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Read has since spoken at the UKIP 2012 Annual Conference at [[Birmingham Town Hall]] on 21 September.

Read wrote and recorded a song in support of the party, "[[UKIP Calypso]]", which was released in October 2014 as a single credited to The Independents.<ref name="holehouse">{{cite news |last=Holehouse |first=Mike |title=Get Ukip Calypso to No 1, says Nigel Farage |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage/11174130/Get-Ukip-Calypso-with-its-dodgy-faux-Jamaican-accent-to-No-1-says-Nigel-Farage.html |access-date=20 October 2014 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=20 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="mikereadwithdraws">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29722860 |title=Mike Read withdraws UKIP Calypso song|access-date=2 November 2014 |work=[[BBC News]]|date = 22 October 2014}}</ref> An online petition was filed by former Labour borough councillor Richard McKenzie in which he called Read's song 'racist and offensive'.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/petition-calls-mike-read-suspended-7976639|title=Petition calls for Mike Read to be suspended from BBC|last=Davidson|first=Gemma|date=22 October 2014|work=getreading|access-date=1 March 2018}}</ref> Party leader [[Nigel Farage]] endorsed it and called for the party's supporters to download the song. Read adopted a faux-Jamaican accent, but said that it was 'not remotely racist' to do so, saying: 'It's a satire and a bit of fun. It's not terribly serious. It wouldn't have sounded very good sung in a Surrey accent.'<ref name="holehouse"/> Debate over the single featured on ''[[Newsnight]]'', with UKIP spokesman [[Winston McKenzie]], himself of Caribbean origin, praising the song and likening it to adaptations of predominantly black musical styles by [[Elvis Presley]] and [[The Beatles]], although the [[BBC Asian Network]]'s [[DJ Nihal|Nihal]] was critical of it.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Meredith|first1=Charlotte|title=Winston McKenzie Defends The Ukip Calypso In The Most Bizarre Newsnight Debate Ever|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/21/ukip-winston-mckenzie-newsnight_n_6019290.html|access-date=26 October 2014|work=[[Huffington Post]]|date=21 October 2014}}</ref> Read withdrew the song from sale on 22 October 2014 and apologised 'unreservedly' for the fact that it had 'unintentionally caused offence'.<ref name="mikereadwithdraws"/> On 26 October 2014, the song reached number 44 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/meghan-trainor-ties-clean-bandit-for-longest-running-number-1-of-2014-3239/ |title=Meghan Trainor ties with Clean Bandit for longest-running Number 1 of 2014 |access-date=2 November 2014 |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]] |date = 26 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/27/ukip-calypso-fails-to-make-top-40-mike-read |title=Ukip Calypso fails to make Top 40 |access-date=2 November 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date = 27 October 2014}}</ref>