In 1981, she was part of the effervescent foursome who won Europe’s hearts with “Making Your Mind Up”. But now former Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston is turning away from the rest of Europe, with the announcement that she will be a parliamentary candidate for the Brexit Party MP.
The news was confirmed on Tuesday when Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage released the list of 635 candidates who would stand for the Brexit Party in a potential UK general election. The party is focused on the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
Jay Aston Colquhounis — she is listed under her married name — said in a statement, “I want to stand for the Brexit Party and fight to uphold democracy for the sake of the people.” She added, “As an MP, I will work to rebuild trust and help the Brexit Party make the necessary reforms to unite the country after we break free of the European Union.”
At the next election, Jay Aston Colquhounis would stand in the London constituency of Kensington. It is currently held by the Labour MP Emma Dent Coad.
Jay Aston isn’t the first Eurovision winner involved in EU politics. Ireland’s first winner Dana Scallon served as a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. Ukraine’s first Eurovision winner Ruslana is a pro-EU activist and peace campaigner.
Jay, the Fizz and Brexit
In 2016, former Bucks Fizz members Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston were booked to play the pro-Brexit music festival and political rally Bpoplive, after a number of high-profiles acts pulled out. However the event was cancelled. At the time, the trio said they did not endorse either the Leave or Remain campaigns.
Earlier this year, the three singers — who now perform as The Fizz — uploaded a parody of their iconic Eurovision performance. While lip-syncing to “Making Your Mind Up”, Jay and Cheryl performed a skirt-rip, where European Union flags were pulled away to reveal Union Jack underpants.
Making their mind up ?? #Brexit #parliament #Eurovision #EU #BucksFizz #Indecision pic.twitter.com/DhJWj93JOl
— Jay Aston (@JayAstonC) April 5, 2019
Jay has also had a somewhat gloomy perspective on the UK’s fortunes at Eurovision. Last year, when asked about the UK at Eurovision, she said:
“I’m not sure we can win again, I think it would be miraculous if the UK could win. We have sent some good things over and we’ve always come in the bottom five. There’s no way we would want to do it again, I wouldn’t mind reading out the points though.”
Fellow Fizz member Cheryl Baker has been more supportive of the UK’s Eurovision efforts. In 2018 she cheered on SuRie, tweeting “We have a chance in #Eurovision2018! Superb singer, superb song.”
Bucks Fizz represented the UK at Eurovision 1981. The group performed the upbeat pop song “Making Your Mind Up”. It won the contest, giving the UK their fourth Eurovision win. “Making Your Mind Up” was a huge international hit, reaching No.1 in eight countries.
However, recent UK Eurovision entries have not fared as well. In the past decade, boyband Blue had the best chart placing with 16th for “I Can”. The UK’s most recent entry “Bigger Than Us” did not not make the top 100 of the UK singles chart.
Read more UK Eurovision news here
Comments on this post are now closed.
Why did this comment section become Brexit political debate all of the sudden? Apart from one awkward wording I think Robyn tried her best to make this article as apolitical as it can be.
By “apolitical” I mean that in this article the focus was put on the facts, not the opinions. And that’s a competent and interesting article if you look at that.
The road to UK freedom
I have to admit it’s ironic that she claims that she supports United Kingdom “breaking free from European Union”, while in reality the remaining 27 EU members cannot wait for the UK to leave. Brexit has become a joke.
Do the choreography of that song once a day, and you’ll be in perfect condition in no time
I’m sorry you’ve lost me. What does leaving a political institution like the European Union have to do with the Eurovision Song Contest?
It’s an article with news about a former ESC winner. Plus, everything is political.
If you are too sensitive to handle such a harmless and newsworthy article, the internet is probably not the right place for you to be.
If you don’t like what you see, don’t look. I welcome those articles.
And others have the right to write such articles. (Although the EU is not Europe, biiiig, important difference)
I would also like to maintain that Europe and the EU are two different things. Norway and Iceland are managed so much better, I wish my country was the same. Of course, they have natural resources, so they have a better position to remain on their own.
Nobody can be on their own forever. For example, United Arab Emirates has a lot of oil, and they knew it will be over in a few years, so in order to remain filthy rich, they invested in tourism. They have created obscene hotels and artificial islands, because they were smart enough to know nothing lasts forever. They needed a new industry and this is why we know now about Dubai and their tourism. I don’t see Europeans outside EU being that smart.
I bet most Norwegians, Icelanders and Swiss people would disagree with you.
I don’t want to offend anyone, but all I hear is European countries complaining about too many tourists. Nobody is self-sufficient. Countries that used to be just desert before finding oil, are more realistic.
“But now former Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston is turning away from Europe,”
No, that’s misleading. The European Union is NOT Europe.
There’s around 50 countries give or take depending how you count them in Europe. Only 27 of which are still in the EU.
Yes, but EU is a principle, a dream for other countries that want to join, and will join sooner or later. UK still doesn’t get it. A decent song is worse than a bad song. There are songs so bad that are good, but a decent song is nothing. And about politics…UK could have done like Poland and Hungary if they don’t want immigrants, I’m not saying that is good or bad, but UK is clueless and doesn’t know that it had this option.
Norway, switzerland and iceland are saying hi.
A country that has oil, another one with shady banks, and a third who eats only sea food. Hi.
And oh my god, how delicious their sea food is. If I had real money, I would travel to Iceland every month just to go that one divine restaurant near the big church In Reykjavik.
You must be full of mercury.