Spice girls axed from Live 8

The Spice Girls have been axed from this summer's star-studded Live 8 charity concert - because the event's organisers fear the band's music undermines the show's serious political message about world poverty.

The Wannabe stars - Geri Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton - hoped to reform the band and perform together for the first time since 1998, when Halliwell quit the group.

But bosses for TV giant the BBC - which is broadcasting the event - have snubbed the fivesome, insisting the pop act is too trivial for the historic fund-raising event, which aims to persuade politicians to cancel Third World debt, double the aid budget and rewrite global trade laws so developing countries can protect their economies.

The corporation also believes there wouldn't be enough time for the Spice Girls to perform at the show, because 16 major acts, including Paul McCartney, Sting and U2 have already agreed to sing at the London leg of the July event in the capital's Hyde Park.

A BBC spokesman explains: "Many of the biggest rock stars in the world have agreed to take part, and the Spice Girls just don't fit.

"It's a political rally to put pressure on world leaders and their kind of pop act didn't seem right for this kind of event.

"There was also a practical problem that with so many great international rock stars and bands wanting to do their bit, there just won't be time for the Spice Girls. Perhaps if five or six bands pulled

out it would be different, but the truth is it's just not going to happen."

An insider tells British newspaper The Sun: "The girls will be gutted by the decision."