Drill MC creates track using MP quotes in bid to highlight hypocrisy over violent language

Video by Channel 4 News sees the rapper using both old and recent comments by MPs

A still from Channel 4's video where a drill artist uses quotes from MPs that feature violent rhetoric (Channel 4/screengrab)

Channel 4 News has commissioned a drill MC to create a track that uses real quotes from MPs where they used violent rhetoric.

Drill, which is a form of rap music from Chicago that was exported into south London in the late 2010s, has been widely criticised by MPs and the media for its dark and often violent lyrics, and was cited as a cause of the spike in violence in London over summer this year.

YouTube deleted more than 30 videos posted by drill artists from its site earlier this year on the recommendation of Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick. In June, the west London drill group 1011 were issued with a court order that banned them from making music without permission from the police.

Channel 4 News's video, which was created by Boya Dee and Symeon Brown, features a rapper using the name Drillminister who uses MP's comments in a bid to highlight the hypocrisy of their own violent language.

"MPs have accused drill artists of 'glorifying violence'," the channel wrote alongside the video report. "But are Parliamentarians in any position to lecture them – after a week of distasteful, anonymous briefings about metaphorically knifing Theresa May?"

One quote in the track is attributed to former chancellor George Osborne, who in 2017 reportedly claimed he would not rest until the Prime Minister was "chopped up in bags in my freezer".

Another from MP Jess Phillips, speaking about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said: "The day that it becomes you are hurting us more than helping us, I won't knife you in the back – I'll knife you in the front."

The lead quote that sparked the debate was from a former Tory minister, who allegedly told The Sunday Times: "The moment is coming when the knife gets heated, stuck in her [Theresa May's] front and twisted. She'll be dead soon."

The former minister's language was heavily condemned by Tory MPs on both the pro-Brexit and pro-Remain sides of the party, with former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers calling the comments "disturbing".