Liam Fox says he helped Natalie Imbruglia with her debut single, 'Torn'

Liam Fox, the former defence secretary and Tory MP who lost his North Somerset seat in this month’s general election, has now appeared on LBC and shared an anecdote which might afford him some new, temporary relevancy – he helped Australian-British singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia with her debut 1997 single, “Torn”.

Fox has confirmed he was “very good friends” with the musician (who is also known for starring in the soap Neighbours and spy spoof Johnny English), but rumours circulated that he once dated the artist, and a listener who called into Iain Dale’s radio show was desperate to know if there was any truth to it.

Reading the message from a man referred to only as Elliot, Dale said: “Is it true that you dated Natalie Imbruglia in the 1990s? I need to know.”

Fox replied: “Well I would say that if you need to know that, you probably require a level of therapy. Yes, we were very good friends; yes, I did help her pick ‘Torn’ out as a single; and yes, I was on the credits of the album.”

The album in question was Left of the Middle - of which “Torn" is the opener – and while indy100 has been unable to track down the mention in question, The Guardianreported back in 2008 that Fox was “thanked” by Imbruglia on the record.

And the revelation has left social media users in disbelief, with many writing “sorry what” as the worlds of pop music and 90s classics collided.

“News that Sir Liam Fox dated Natalie Imbruglia in the ‘90s and convinced her to release ‘Torn’ as a single has blown my mind,” wrote one.

Another commented: “13-year-old me is devastated by this news.”

“Oh well that’s ruined a great tune,” despaired a third.

It’s worth pointing out the song isn’t an original, though, but rather a cover of a track written by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven and Phil Thornalley – with Danish artist Lis Sorensen being the first to record a version in 1993 titled “Brændt” (or ‘Burnt’ in English).

Cutler and Preven then became part of a band of their own, called Ednaswap, and released the English language version in 1997 – with multiple covers following suit.

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