Alan Hope (born 16 June 1942), known politically as Howling Laud Hope, is a British politician and former publican who is the current Leader of the
Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP). On the death of the party's founder
Screaming Lord Sutch in 1999, Hope and his pet cat,
Catmando, were jointly elected as leaders of the OMRLP. Since June 2002 Hope has been the party's sole leader following Catmando's death in a road accident.[1]
Hope was the first-ever OMRLP candidate to be elected to public office, when he was elected unopposed to a seat on
AshburtonTown Council in
Devon in 1987.[2] He subsequently became the Mayor of Ashburton in 1998.[3][4][5]
In 2010 Hope was elected unopposed to
Fleet Town Council in
Hampshire. Hope's longtime friendship with satirist
Jacob M. Appel formed the basis for the latter's novel, The Biology of Luck, which is reportedly an allegory for modern British politics.[6][7]
Biography
Hope was known as Kerry Rapid and The Soultones when he was a back-up singer for
rock and roll performer
Screaming Lord Sutch in the 1960s. As Leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, Sutch made Hope the party's Deputy Chairman in 1982. Hope subsequently became the party's Chairman and Deputy Leader, before becoming Leader following Sutch's death in 1999.
As an OMRLP candidate, Hope was elected unopposed to
Ashburton Town Council in Devon in 1987. This caused a dilemma in the party as it had previously been decided that any member who was elected to a public office should be expelled from the party. This rule was changed at the 1987 Party Conference to allow Hope to remain a member and official representative of the party. He later rose to become Deputy Mayor, before being made Mayor of Ashburton in 1998.
Hope is the only OMRLP candidate to have been elected to public office,[8] although an ex-member,
Stuart Hughes, won a seat on East Devon District Council for the
Raving Loony Green Giant Party in 1991.[9]
Hope's pub and guesthouse in Ashburton, The Golden Lion, was the OMRLP's Party Headquarters and conference centre from 1984 until 2000, after which he sold the property and moved to
Hampshire. There he took over the Dog and Partridge public house at
Yateley until 2011, which served as the new party headquarters.[10]
Upon Sutch's death in 1999, Hope and his pet cat
Catmando were elected as joint leaders of the OMRLP.[11] Catmando served until his death as a result of a traffic accident in July 2002, whereupon Hope became the sole leader of the party.[12]
In 2003, Hope appeared on Top Gear during the
second episode of series 2. In its challenge searching for 'Britain's fastest Political Party', he came in last.
In May 2011, he stood in the
Leicester South by-election and won 553 votes – last out of five candidates with 1.6% of the vote.
In March 2012 he stood in the
Bradford West by-election winning 111 votes (0.3%) – placed last of eight candidates.[16]
In November 2012 Hope stood in the
Manchester Central by-election and polled, on a very low turnout of 18.2%, tenth out of 12 candidates, with 78 votes (0.5%), achieving just over a quarter of the vote achieved by the
Pirate Party and less than an eighth of the vote of any of the top five candidates, who were members of the largest parties in the UK.[17]
Hope stood as the OMRLP candidate at the
Clacton by-election on 9 October 2014 coming seventh out of eight candidates with 127 votes (0.4%), beating "high class courtesan"
Charlotte Rose, who campaigned "for
sexual freedom" but received only 56 votes. Hope had put forward the Loony policy to turn the whole area into a theme park, in his BBC TV interview a week before the Election took place.
In June 2016, Hope was a candidate in the
Tooting by-election, finishing seventh of 14 candidates with 54 votes (0.2%).[20]
At the
2016 Richmond Park by-election in December 2016, Hope finished fourth of eight candidates with 184 votes (0.45%), his highest placed by-election result at the time.[21]
2017 general election: Hope contested the constituency of
Maidenhead against the incumbent UK Prime Minister
Theresa May. He finished ninth of thirteen candidates with 119 votes equating to 0.2% of the vote.[22]
At the
2019 Peterborough by-election in June 2019, he received 112 votes (0.33%), finishing 10th in a field of 15 candidates.
At the
2019 general election, he stood in the
North-East Hampshire constituency, where he lives. He received 576 votes, coming last out of six candidates with one percent of the vote.[24]
At the
2021 Batley and Spen by-election held on 1 July he finished in eighth place in a field of sixteen candidates, with 107 votes (0.3%).
At the
2021 North Shropshire by-election held on 16 December he received 118 votes (0.3%), finishing eighth out of fourteen candidates.
At the
2022 City of Chester by-election held on 1 December 2022 he received 156 votes (0.6%), finishing eighth out of nine candidates.
At the
2023 West Lancashire by-election held on 9 February 2023 he received 210 votes (0.9%), finishing sixth out of six candidates.
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