Thatcher struggle overshadows singles chart
The BBC has raised eyebrows by refusing to play the anti-Thatcher track Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead track on its charts show later.
Instead of playing the song in full the corporation will instead play a news item putting the use of the song in context.
Just five of the song's 51 seconds will be played during the Official Chart Show.
Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper said he found the campaign to get the track to the number one spot "distasteful" but that he wanted to take civil liberties arguments into account.
"It is not a political track, it is a personal attack on an individual who has just died," he said.
"But on the other hand, if I ban the track then you have arguments about censorship and freedom of speech."
Ding Dong, which originally featured in the musical The Wizard of Oz, is not expected to take the top spot. But a potential number three position will see it comfortably beat the counter track promoted by Thatcher loyalists, I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher, by punk band Notsensibles.
The track does not analyse her political philosophy in great detail, instead preferring to focus on the relative attractiveness of Britain's first female prime minister.
One verse states: "Oh Margaret Thatcher is so sexy / She's the girl for you and me / I go red when she's on the telly / 'Cos I think she fancies me."
