Stuart Drummond
- This article refers to the politician Stuart Drummond, for the English footballer, please see Stuart Drummond (footballer)
Stuart Drummond is the first directly-elected mayor of Hartlepool, County Durham, North East England.
He had previously played the mascot for Hartlepool United F.C. as 'H'Angus the Monkey'. He stood for election to Mayor in 2002, originally on a joke platform including a pledge for free bananas for schoolchildren. He won the election narrowly, with 5,696 votes compared to the Labour Party's candidate 5,174. The result was greeted with widespread hilarity, attracting attention far beyond Hartlepool. Canada's National Post newspaper ran the memorable headline "Monkey wins mayoralty, regains human form".
After his election, Drummond stood down as mascot, saying: "Forget about the monkey. The monkey was there only for promotion purposes. The monkey was just for publicity. I am Stuart Drummond, I am the Mayor of Hartlepool, not the monkey."
A local story suggests that local bookmakers set bets on the outcome of the election, with high odds against H'Angus being elected, and local "Poolies" being what they are, went out, placed their bet and then placed their vote, ultimately to benefit from the odds.
On May 5, 2005, Drummond was re-elected as the mayor of Hartlepool with an increased majority of 10,205.
Interestingly Stuart failed to fulfill his free bannana manifesto commitment due to a shortage of funds, although to his credit he did offer a sustainable option of free banana plants to all the town's schools.
On Sunday 3 September, 2006, the Sunday Telegraph reported that citizens in Hartlepool were planning a petition to remove the position of directly-elected mayor.
External links
- A short interview with Stuart Drummond.
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