Nigel Farage has called on Ukip supporters to buy a new calypso theme tune sung in a fake-Caribbean accent by the former Radio 1 DJ Mike Read.
Among other subjects, the song tackles the UK's attitude to immigration with the lines: "Leaders committed a cardinal sin, open the borders let them all come in; illegal immigrants in every town, stand up and be counted Blair and Brown."
The song was soon trending on Twitter, under the hashtag #ukipcalypso. Here's what some of the wittiest tweeters had to say about it.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It might be bad, but is it the worst party anthem ever?
Is #ukipcalypso the worst political anthem ever? Maybe not... http://t.co/HBxlyDjN89 — Matthew Paul (@matthewgpaul) October 20, 2014
Some demanded a swift and appropriate response from the other major parties:
Come on Labour! Where's the Bollywood response by @johnprescott ? #ukipcalypso — mushybees (@mushybees) October 20, 2014
Fortunately, Ed Balls was on hand with an official reaction from his party’s leader, Ed Miliband:
Ed M responds quickly to #ukipcalypso http://t.co/6jRJlWT1rs — Ed Balls (@eddbaIlsmp) October 20, 2014
The song may be many things, of course, but it is not racist:
#UKIPcalypso is NOT racist, assures DJ Mike Read, a 67-yr-old white guy singing in a faux Carribean accent http://t.co/OJ4PhAZenO— Hari (@__Hari__) October 20, 2014
One user thought he had found hidden wordplay in the trending hashtag:
FACT: #ukipcalypso is an anagram of Impending Apocalypse — Pat Long (@PatLongTweets) October 20, 2014
Ukip Calypso... Sounds familiar, now where have we heard that name before?
Is it just me, or does #ukipcalypso sound like a drag name? — Jessica Twentyman (@jtwentyman) October 20, 2014
The ever-reasonable David Mitchell puts the furore in its proper political context:
Mike Read has form in this area, as this classic @RealDMitchell rant reminds us: http://t.co/WCrhRswxUx #UKIPCalypso — Tomb Doran (@portraitinflesh) October 20, 2014