Summary Opponents of the late Margaret Thatcher are taking a kind of musical revenge on the former PM.
LONDON (AP) - The BBC is in a bind after opponents of Margaret Thatcher pushed the song "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" to the top of the British charts in a posthumous protest over her divisive policies.
The online campaign to drive the "Wizard of Oz" song to the No. 1 spot on the U.K. singles chart was launched by Thatcher critics shortly after the former prime minister died Monday of a stroke at age 87.
As of Friday, the song was No. 1 on British iTunes.
Still, many people say the campaign which aims to see the song played this weekend on the BBC s Official Chart Show is in bad taste. Some have called on the BBC to promise it won t broadcast the song.
John Whittingdale, a lawmaker from Thatcher s Conservative party, told the Daily Mail tabloid that many would find the ditty "deeply insensitive."
"This is an attempt to manipulate the charts by people trying to make a political point," he said.
In a statement, the BBC said it had not yet decided on whether it would feature the song on its show which normally plays all the week s best-selling hits.
"The Official Chart Show on Sunday is a historical and factual account of what the British public has been buying and we will make a decision about playing it when the final chart positions are clear," the taxpayer-funded BBC said.
Not all Tories agreed that the song should be yanked.
"No song should be banned by the BBC unless its lyrics are pre-watershed," said former Conservative lawmaker Louise Mensch, referring to British restrictions on adult content.
Mensch, a prominent Conservative voice on Twitter, said in a message posted to the site that Thatcher, famously known as "the Iron Lady," would not have wanted it any other way.
"Thatcher stood for freedom," she wrote.
