Monster Raving Loony Party

I’m fascinated by the quirky elements of British politics, like first-past-the-post voting.

My favorite quirk though is the Official Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party.

The Loonies, as they are generally known, added William Hill to their name in recognition of the bookmaker’s sponsorship.

Founded in 1963 by Screaming Lord Sutch, the Loonies add a touch of color and humor to election campaigns.

In 1987, the party won its first seat on Ashburton Town Council in Devon, when Alan “Howling Laud” Hope was elected unopposed. He subsequently became Deputy Mayor and later Mayor of Ashburton in 1998.

Hope stood in the general election against Conservative Party leader David Cameron and was the first to congratulate him at the declaration of the poll (pictured above, Hope on the right).

At one stage during the 1990s there were 16 endorsed Raving Loonies holding council seats across England and one in Scotland.

Howling Laud Hope jointly succeeded Screaming Lord Sutch as Loony leader in 1999 with his ginger tabby Cat Mandu.

Cat Mandu died as a result of a traffic accident in July 2002.

The Monster Raving Loony Party’s official policy statement is known as a “manicfesto”.

Policies for the 2010 election included:

• Health & Safety: We propose to ban Self Responsibility on the grounds that it may be dangerous to your health.
• The speaker in the House of Commons will be replaced by the latest audio equipment.
• To help the Israel/Palestinian problem, we will get rid of the old road map, and replace it with a new sat nav instead.
• Education: We will increase the number of women teachers throughout the education system as we are strong believers of female intuition.
• We will ban all forms of greyhound racing. This will help stop the country going to the dogs.

A long-running Loony policy has been to introduce a 99p coin “to save on change”. I rather like that one.

The Loony candidate in Amber Valley, Sam Thing, wanted to legalise cannabis production and tax it. “My stance is usually lying down,” Thing said.

Hackney candidate Knigel Knapp proposed that young offenders should be superglued together. “If you can’t beat them – you’re not allowed to – join them.”

Knapp polled 182 votes, which was considerably more than the Magna Carta Party, which managed just 26 votes.

The declaration of the poll is another quirk of British politics.

In Australia it takes place a week or more after polling day because postal votes have to be counted and preferences distributed in many seats.

In the United Kingdom it happens on polling night, often in the early hours of the next morning, because the polls don’t close until 10pm.

The declaration gives minor party candidates a platform alongside the “big three”. Hence the picture above of Howling Laud Hope with Cameron.

Hope polled 234 votes compared with Cameron 33,973.