page_title: Billy Bragg
section_title: Labour in government
hierarchical_section_title: Billy Bragg / Politics and activism / Labour in government
caption_attribution_description: English: English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg attending a demo in Trafalgar Square, London, England, on 23 January 2010.
context_page_description: Stephen William Bragg is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes.
context_section_description: In 1999, he was invited to appear before a commission that debated possible reform of the House of Lords, at which he put forward what became known as "the Bragg Method": the arrangement of the Upper House to proportionally reflect the results of a general election. "Trying to make it sexy is impossible," he said.
  At the time of the 2001 general election, Bragg promoted tactical voting in an attempt to unseat Conservative Party candidates in his adopted home county Dorset, particularly in South Dorset and West Dorset. The Conservatives did indeed narrowly lose South Dorset to the Labour Party.
  
  Bragg has been an opponent of fascism, racism, bigotry, sexism and homophobia, and is a supporter of a multi-racial Britain. As a result, he has conflicted with far-right groups such as the British National Party (BNP). In a 2004 The Guardian article, Bragg was quoted as saying:
  The British National Party would probably make it into a parliament elected by proportional representation, too. It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy, and that would be much more powerful than duffing them up in the street – which I'm also in favour of.
  During the 2005 general election campaign in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, Bragg endorsed Oona King, the Labour Party's pro-Iraq War candidate, over George Galloway, the left-wing socialist anti-war candidate from the Respect Party; due to a belief that splitting the left-wing vote would allow the Conservatives to win the seat. Galloway overturned King's 10,000-strong majority to become the Respect Party's only MP.
  At the NME Awards in 2007, on the fifth anniversary of Joe Strummer's death, Bragg founded Jail Guitar Doors (taking its name from a song by the Clash), an organisation aimed at supplying instruments to prisons and encouraging prisoners to address problems in a non-confrontational way. An American chapter of the organisation was launched in 2009 by MC5's Wayne Kramer.
  In January 2010, Bragg stated his intention to withhold his income tax as a protest against the Royal Bank of Scotland's plan to pay bonuses of approximately of £1,500,000,000 to staff in its investment banking business. Bragg set up a Facebook group, made appearances on radio and television news programmes, and made a speech at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park saying, "Millions are already facing stark choices: are they willing to work longer hours for less money, or would they rather be unemployed? I don’t see why the bankers at RBS shouldn’t be asked the same."
caption: Supporting a demonstration against police misuse of anti-terrorism legislation; Trafalgar Square, London, 23 January 2010
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