Howling Laud Hope Explained

Party:	Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Birth Name:	Alan Hope
Birth Date:	16 June 1942
Birth Place:	Mytchett, Surrey, England
Nationality:	British
Office:	Leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Deputy:	Nick The Flying Brick
Alongside:	Catmando (1999–2002)
Predecessor:	Screaming Lord Sutch
Termstart:	1999
Termstart1:	1998
Office1:	Mayor of Ashburton
Termend1:	2000

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 Ashburton Town 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.

Elections contested

!Year!Election!Constituency!Votes!%!Place!Misc!Ref

1983	General election	Teignbridge	241	0.5%	4/4
1987	General election	Teignbridge	312	0.6%	4/4
1987	Town council	Ashburton	n.a.	n.a.	1/1	Uncontested election
1992	General election	Teignbridge	437	0.7%	4/4
1999	By-election	Kensington and Chelsea	20	0.1%	17/18
2001	General election	Aldershot	390	0.9%	7/7
2003	By-election	Brent East	59	0.3%	13/16
2004	By-election	Hartlepool	80	0.3%	12/14
2005	General election	Aldershot	553	1.1%	6/6	Best result in a general election
2006	By-election	Bleanau Gwent	318	1.2%	6/6
2007	By-election	Sedgefield	129	0.5%	10/11
2009	By-election	Norwich North	144	0.4%	9/12		^[13]
2010	General election	Witney	234	0.3%	6/10		^[14]
2010	Town council election	Fleet	n.a.	n.a.	1/1	Uncontested election
2011	By-election	Barnsley Central	198	0.8%	8/9		^[15]
2011	By-election	Leicester South	553	1.6%	5/5	Highest ever percentage of votes
2012	By-election	Bradford West	111	0.3%	8/8		^[16]
2012	By-election	Manchester Central	78	0.5%	10/12		^[17]
2013	By-election	South Shields	197	0.8%	8/9		^[18]
2014	By-election	Clacton	127	0.4%	7/8
2015	General election		72	0.2%	8/13		^[19]
2016	By-election	Tooting	54	0.2%	7/14		^[20]
2016	By-election	Richmond Park	184	0.5%	4/8		^[21]
2017	General election		119	0.2%	9/13		^[22]
2018	By-election	Lewisham East	93	0.4%	9/14		^[23]
2019	By-election	Peterborough	112	0.3%	10/15
2019	General election	North East Hampshire	576	1.0%	6/6	Highest ever number of votes	^[24]
2021	By-election	Batley and Spen	107	0.3%	8/16
2021	By-election	North Shropshire	118	0.3%	8/14
2022	By-election	City of Chester	156	0.6%	8/9
2023	By-election	West Lancashire	210	0.9%	6/6
2023	By-election	Uxbridge and South Ruislip	32	0.1%	16/17		^[25]
2023	By-election	Tamworth	155	0.6%	8/9		^[26]
2024	By-election	Blackpool South	121	0.6%	8/9
2024	General election	North East Hampshire	340	0.6%	6/8		^[27]

Further reading

• Monster Raving Loony Party race heating up between chairman – and his cat Reuters. Retrieved 23 September 1999.
• Loony tradition continues at by-election BBC News Retrieved 1 July 1999.

External links

• Howling Laud Hope biographical videos
• Official Monster Raving Loony Party – Official website

Notes and References

1. News: Sholto . Byrnes . The lunatic fringe . The Independent . 6 October 2004 . 26 December 2010 .
2. News: BBC NEWS | VOTE2001 | PARTIES | Monster Raving Loony Party . news.bbc.co.uk . 5 March 2001 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305192912/http://news.bbc.co.uk/news/vote2001/hi/english/parties/newsid_1179000/1179187.stm . 5 March 2016.
3. Web site: Tom Mendelsohn: Howling Laud Hope – a profile . https://archive.today/20121019053338/http://indyeagleeye.livejournal.com/210310.html . dead . 19 October 2012 . Independent Minds . 10 July 2016 .
4. Web site: Ashburton | Charity Shop Tourism . charityshoptourism.wordpress.com . 12 July 2014 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20120424231641/http://charityshoptourism.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/ashburton/ . 24 April 2012 . 14 September 2009 .
5. Web site: BBC News | UK Politics | Loony tradition continues at by-election . news.bbc.co.uk . 12 July 2014 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20150416052747/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/383356.stm . 16 April 2015 .
6. "Hope and Hopeless," Cortland Standard (Cortland, NY), 29 September 2014. P 3
7. Appel, JM. Phoning Home. University of South Carolina Press, 2014
8. Web site: Matthew Tempest . Cat pushes for prime minister | Politics . theguardian. 21 May 2001 . 12 July 2014.
9. Book: Criddle. Byron. The Almanac of British Politics. 2005. Routledge. 1134493819. 297. 7th.
10. Web site: Dog and Partridge, Yateley, Hampshire, GU46 7LR – pub details# . Beerintheevening.com . 12 July 2014.
11. News: Loonies choose cat as joint leader. 24 September 1999. BBC. 12 May 2016.
12. News: 'I'm chief Monster Raving Loony, seriously '. 9 May 2015. BBC.
13. Web site: Norwich North . https://web.archive.org/web/20110911125810/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/norwich09.html . 11 September 2011.
14. Web site: Hart.gov.uk (Hampshire district) – Fleet town councils – 2010 election results . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120305182904/http://www.hart.gov.uk/warded_uncontested_results_13_4_10.pdf . 5 March 2012 . 13 July 2014 . Hart.gov.uk.
15. Web site: 4 March 2011 . BBC News – Lib Dems slump to sixth as Labour win Barnsley poll . 12 July 2014 . Bbc.co.uk.
16. News: George Galloway wins Bradford West by-election . 30 March 2012 . BBC.
17. Web site: Parliamentary by-election Manchester Central Constituency . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121030121756/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/362/elections/4981/your_next_election/3 . 30 October 2012 . 14 November 2012 . Manchester Council.
18. Web site: 3 May 2013 . Labour holds South Shields as UKIP takes second . 12 July 2014 . New Statesman.
19. News: Roberts . Elizabeth . Jamieson . Sophie . 8 May 2015 . Vote campaigner beaten by Boris is still smiling . 9 May 2015 . The Telegraph.
20. Web site: 16 June 2016 . Tooting Constituency by-election result June 2016 published . 17 June 2016 . Wandsworth Council . 21 June 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160621040954/http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200327/election_results/2167/tooting_constituency_by_election_result_june_2016 . dead .
21. News: Walker . Peter . 2 December 2016 . Zac Goldsmith loses to Lib Dems in 'shockwave' Richmond Park byelection . The Guardian.
22. Web site: 10 June 2017 . Maidenhead Parliamentary constituency . 10 June 2017 . BBC News.
23. Web site: 14 June 2018 . UK Parliamentary By-Election – Lewisham East Constituency – Declaration of Result of Poll . 26 March 2019 . . PDF.
24. Web site: 13 December 2019 . Hampshire North East parliamentary constituency . 2 July 2024 . BBC.
25. News: Rufo . Yasmin . 23 June 2023 . Uxbridge by-election full candidate list revealed . 23 June 2023 . . en-GB.
26. Web site: https://tamworth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/news/Declaration%20of%20Result%20-%20Parliamentary%20by-election%20191023.pdf . 22 October 2023.
27. News: North East Hampshire - General election results 2024 . 2024-07-05 . BBC News . en-GB.