Howling Laud Hope
Alan "Howling Laud" Hope | |
|---|---|
| Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate for the United Kingdom general election, 2010 in Witney | |
| Election date 6 May 2010 | |
| Opponent | List
|
| Incumbent | David Cameron (C) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 1942 (age 82) Mytchett, Surrey, England |
| Political party | Official Monster Raving Loony Party |
Alan "Howling Laud" Hope (born June 1942 in Mytchett, Surrey) and has been leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party since 1999. Following the death of Screaming Lord Sutch, Hope was jointly elected with his cat, "Cat Mandu", as OMRLP leader in a ballot. However, since June 2002 he has been the sole leader, owing to Cat Mandu's death in a road accident.
Electoral career
Hope was elected unopposed to Ashburton Town Council in Devon in 1987, where he eventually rose to be Mayor in 1998[1].
Hope stood as a candidate in the Brent East by-election, 2003, where he gained just 59 votes in a contest eventually won from Labour by Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat candidate. This did not discourage him, however, and Hope stood in Aldershot in the general election on 5 May 2005, where he took sixth (and last) place with 553 votes. He stood in the Blaenau Gwent Westminster by-election, 2006, coming last with 318 votes, and in the Sedgefield by-election, 2007 where he came tenth out of eleven with 129 votes. He stood as a candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Norwich-North by-election on 23 July 2009, coming ninth out of twelve candidates, with 144 votes.[2].
Contrary to a number of articles in the Guardian newspaper[3], Hope is not the only OMRLP candidate in history to have won elected office.
Cat Mandu
"Cat Mandu" (b. 1995 - d. 2002)[4] was a British ginger tabby cat, and pet of Howling Laud Hope. His name is a pun on the city of Kathmandu in Nepal. He was jointly elected leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party with Hope after the death of Screaming Lord Sutch in 1999, and served until his death as a result of a traffic accident in July 2002.[5][6] In honour of his death the party proposed cat-crossings at all major roads.[7] One of the OMRLP proposed laws is that no cat shall be called 'Cat Mandu' as there can only be one.
References
- ^ "Results of By-Elections to the 52nd United Kingdom Parliament". Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Norwich '09 by-elections.co.uk
- ^ Matthew Tempest (21 May 2001). "Cat pushes for prime minister". The Guardian.
- ^ "POLITICAL CAT FIGHT ENDS IN DRAW FOR LOONIES". The Toronto Star. September 25, 1999. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
- ^ "Election 2001: Cat Mandu". Guardian Online. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
- ^ Sholto Byrnes (October 6, 2004). "THE LUNATIC FRINGE; IT'S A PARTY CONFERENCE - BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT. SHOLTO BYRNES JOINS". The Independent. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
- ^ Jack Malvern (August 7, 2002). "Mandu". The Times. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
Further reading
- Reuters (23 September 1999). "Monster Raving Loony Party race heating up between chairman – and his cat". CNN.
{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help) - "Loony tradition continues at by-election". BBC News. 1 July 1999.
External links
- Official Monster Raving Loony Party - Official website
- The 2001 Election in Pictures: Laud Hope and Cat Mandu The Guardian
- Official Monster Raving Loony Party Official Website
- Publican shares Loony leader's role with a cat The Independent
- Cat pushes for prime minister The Guardian
- Loonies choose cat as joint leader BBC News