Star of Franz Ferdinand song Jacqueline stands for the SNP

Franz Ferdinand's selt-titled debut album sold more than two million copies. Picture: Toby Williams/TSPL

Jacqueline - a 3 min 49sec indie rock stomper - was many people’s introduction to Franz Ferdinand, the Glasgow-based group that stormed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 2004 with their self-titled LP.

Now the inspiration behind the song has stepped out from the margins of music history and revealed herself as an SNP candidate at the council elections on May 4.

Jacqueline Cameron is standing in the Johnstone South and Elderslie ward for Renfrewshire Council - and has already received the backing of Alex Kapranos, the songwriter who made her name famous.

“We were all living in the west end of Glasgow,” she said. “I had been living in London but moved back in 1997. I went out with Paul Thomson, the drummer, for about four years.

“Everybody seemed to be a band - but you could tell Franz were the ones who would make it.”

Jacqueline, an advocacy worker for people with disabilities, stressed that Kapranos used several of his friends at the time in his songs.

“There’s a guy called Gregor mentioned in the other half of the song - but I think because it’s called Jacqueline everybody remembers it,” she added.

The song’s memorable opening line - which mentions Jacqueline meeting a man named Ivor - was based on a real life incident when she met the cult Scottish poet and humorist Ivor Cutler at the Royal Festival Hall.

Jacqueline, 49, said it was her advocacy work that led her to stand as a candidate for the SNP.

“I was disappointed with the result in the independence referendum and decided to become more involved,” she said. “There was a push for more female candidates and I thought now was the right time.”