Grant Robertson’s dinner date with left-wing British musician Billy Bragg

Finance and Cyclone Minister Grant Robertson poses with British singer Billy Bragg after their lunch date in Wellington today. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand’s newly appointed Cyclone Minister had an extra special dinner date with a famed left-wing musician in Wellington today.

Grant Robertson and British singer Billy Bragg talked Labour politics and Bragg’s 1980s tour dates over a curry in the nation’s capital before posing for a photo which Bragg posted to his Twitter feed.

“Talking with the taxman about poetry,” Bragg wrote, referencing his 1986 album of the same name.

Talking with the taxman about poetry. Went out for a curry tonight in Wellington with @grantrobertson1 Lots of chat about Labour politics and 1980s NZ tour dates. pic.twitter.com/BM4xdCrJpR

— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) February 20, 2023

When he combined the personal and the political in songs of love and conscience in the middle of the 1980s, Bragg rose to fame among critics and became a champion of populist activism.

His music, which blends folk music, punk rock and protest songs, often reflected the grassroots, broadly leftist, political movements he had been a part of throughout his 35-year career.

He performed three shows in Wellington last weekend and is gearing up for two more Kiwi gigs, in Christchurch and Auckland.