Love or hate, possess and interest or cannot be bothered, politics is really on the agenda right now. The United Kingdom’s General Election is looming large, with the future of our nation set to be decided for the immediate future. Conservative ‘rule’ – albeit with a Lib Dem coalition - has been the way for some time now, but Labour are battling, while other parties such as UKIP and the SNP have emerged.

Football in itself bears many similarities with politics, so it comes as little surprise that many players, both past and present, have taken an interest in what’s going on in parliament… and here are SIX examples.

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Paolo Di Canio

Where better – perhaps ‘better’ is the wrong word – to start than West Ham hero Di Canio. The Italian is known for his right wing views, and is a self-declared admirer of former dictator Benito Mussolini and landed himself in hot water with a fascist salute to Lazio fans.

"I am a fascist, not a racist. I made the Roman salute because it's a salute from a comrade to his comrades and was meant for my people.”

Okay then, Paolo.

Karl Henry

QPR’s midfield… erm… just midfielder Henry barely made headlines or attracted attention at all. However, some recent frank views displayed on Twitter have revealed his Tory leanings on the political spectrum:

His views are strong, but are they perhaps born from a desire to keep his hard earned cash? Maybe, which certainly riled many fans on Twitter. Last week he also confirmed where the cross on his piece of paper will be going…

Sol Campbell

Controversial in his playing days, and even more so now he’s out of the game, Campbell is a staunch Conservative supporter. Politically active and forthright in his views, there is plenty to respect about the former England international’s eagerness to make a difference, and he has even hinted that he could run for the seat in Kensington.

Frank Lampard

"Frank has got some very strong opinions on the way the country should be run. People tend to think of footballers as being a bit one-dimensional but Frank takes pleasure in talking about big social issues when he has guests round to dinner. "

Well, these are the words of a friend of ‘Lamps’ who appears to be as blue as the famous shirt he once donned for Chelsea on a regular basis. He’s also met David Cameron and, whom he had a “good chat” with back in 2007.

Cristiano Lucarelli

While Paolo Di Canio may give the impression that Italian footballers are right leaning, Lucarelli couldn’t be much further left in terms of his views. The big forward once declared his team, at the time, Livorno to be “Communists”, while he spent a large chunk of a big signing on fee at Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007 on funding a left-wing newspaper and helping with causes back in his home nation.

Roman Pavlyuchenko

From the bench at Spurs to the bench in Russia (of a different kind), ‘Pav’ won a seat on the Russian regional council in 2008, running as a part of Vladamir Putin’s United Russia party.

"Roman Pavlyuchenko is a source of pride to Stavropol [the region he represented]," said Dmitriy Edelev, Stavropol parliament's United Russia leader. "He leads a specialist Olympic Reserve School project in the region which is headed up by Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, so the party representatives in the city decided to include him on the candidate list."

Sir Alex Ferguson

As red as his nose, ‘Fergie’ is a Labour enthusiast. Prior to his days of footballing fame, Sir Alex became a shop steward in the union when working in the shipyards of Clydeside and also led an unofficial walkout over pay.