Official Monster Raving Loony Party

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the musician David Sutch, also known as Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow, or simply Lord Sutch. It is notable for its deliberately bizarre policies and it effectively exists to satirise British politics, and by fielding novelty candidates to offer itself as an alternative for protest voters, especially in constituencies where the party holding a safe seat is unlikely to lose it.
In 1987 their leader Alan “Howling Laud” Hope was elected unopposed to Ashburton Town Council in Devon. In 1999 Hope moved to Hampshire, where he became a member of Fleet council, once again uncontested. Since its founding the party has participated in 11 general elections, although it has not won representation in UK Parliament.

History

Sutch era

Starting in 1963, David Sutch, head of the rock group Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, stood in British parliamentary elections under a range of party names, initially as the National Teenage Party candidate. At that time, the minimum voting age was 21. The party's name was intended to highlight what Sutch and others viewed as hypocrisy, since teenagers were unable to vote because of their supposed immaturity while the adults running the country were involved in scandals such as the Profumo affair.
Sutch moved to America in 1968. After being shot during a mugging attempt while living in the United States, Sutch returned to Britain during the 1980s. The Raving Loony name first appeared at the Bermondsey by-election of 1983.
A similar concept had appeared earlier in the Election Night Special sketch on the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, in which the Silly and Sensible parties competed; and a similar skit by The Goodies, in which Graeme Garden stood as a Science Loony. A Science Fiction Looney candidate had also competed in the 1976 Cambridge by-election.
Two others were important in the formation of the OMRLP: John Desmond Dougrez-Lewis stood in the Crosby by-election of 1981 ; and Dougrez-Lewis stood in the by-election as Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel, taken from the Election Night Special Monty Python sketch. He had changed his name by deed poll from John Desmond Lewis, on behalf of the Cambridge University Raving Loony Society, an "anti-political party" and charity fundraising group formed largely as a fun counter-response to increasingly polarised student politics in Cambridge. It was responsible for a number of fun stunts. Its Oxford University equivalents were the "Oxford Raving Lunatics". Dougrez-Lewis became Sutch's agent at the notorious Bermondsey by-election, where the OMRLP banner was first officially unfurled. Reverting to his original name, Dougrez-Lewis stood for the new party in Cambridge in the 1983 general election.
Another serial offbeat by-election candidate was Commander Bill Boaks, a retired World War II hero who took part in sinking the Bismarck. Boaks campaigned and stood for election for over 30 years on limited funds, always on the issue of road safety. Boaks proved influential on Sutch's direction as the leading anti-politician: "It's the ones who don't vote you really want, because they're the ones who think."
Boaks thought that increased traffic and more roads would cause problems, and he addressed road safety with flamboyant campaigning and a variety of tactics, including private prosecution of public figures who escaped public prosecution for drunk driving. He successfully campaigned with Sutch and others to pedestrianise London's Carnaby Street. While recovering from being struck by a motorcycle, Boaks was one of Sutch's counting agents at Bermondsey in 1983. Following Boaks's death, popular opinion towards road safety has become closer to his views.
Screaming Lord Sutch died by suicide on 16 June 1999 while suffering from clinical depression after his mother, Annie, died in 1998. A biography of Sutch, The Man Who Was Screaming Lord Sutch, was published in April 2005, describing what remained of the party as "wannabes, never-would-bes and some bloody-well-shouldn't-bes".

Post-Sutch

Sutch's funeral – organised by his friend, the session drummer and former Rolling Stones member Carlo Little – was attended by members of the OMRLP and Raving Loony Green Giant Party, including Stuart Hughes, who with Freddie Zapp brought along a huge floral tribute shaped as an OMRLP rosette. The running of the OMRLP fell to Alan "Howling Laud" Hope and his cat, Catmando, who were the joint winners of the 1999 membership ballot for the replacement for Sutch. Although Hope took over as party leader after Sutch's death, the real day-to-day running of the party has always been done by other party members.
The OMRLP fielded 15 candidates in the 2001 general election, at which it had its best general election results to date.
The manifesto, entitled The Manicfesto, for the 2005 general election featured the major commitment of their long held pledge to abolish income tax, citing as always that it was only meant to be a temporary measure during the Napoleonic Wars. Also included was another old staple, the "Putting Parliament on Wheels" idea of having Parliament sit throughout the country rather than solely in Londonwith special emphasis this time in its creation negating the need for national/regional assemblies.
The OMRLP has fielded candidates since 2001, with reduced success and losing their deposits.
The OMRLP's official headquarters was originally the Golden Lion Hotel in Ashburton, Devon, then the Dog & Partridge pub at Yateley in Hampshire, but this was lost shortly after the 2005 general election. Conference venues are now chosen in advance: the 2006 conference was held at Torrington in Devon, and the 2007 conference was held in Jersey. The conference was held in Blackpool in 2017.
The party's last elected representative was R. U. Seerius on the eleven-member Sawley Parish Council in Derbyshire, first elected in 2005. He was no longer a member as of May 2007, having failed to appear at no fewer than 11 statutory meetings during his time in office, due to illness.
In March 2007, the party's vice-president Melodie "Boney Maroney" Staniforth left the party, although she ran in the Kirklees election in April 2007. The OMRLP succeeded in standing in the two by-elections of 19 July 2007 in Sedgefield and Ealing Southall, but again achieving derisory results: Alan Hope acquiring 129 votes and John Cartwright taking 188, beating the English Democrats but coming behind the Christian Party of the Reverend George Hargreaves and David Braid.
In recognition that reforms were needed, Peter 'T.C.' Owen was moved from the honorary position of party chairman to that of deputy leader of the OMRLP, while Anthony "The Jersey Flyer" Blyth took over Owen's role. Owen is one of four Raving Loonies to have scored more than 1,000 votes in an election.
On 31 May 2017, Hope was interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC's Daily Politics programme.

Electoral performance

In 1987, the OMRLP won its first seat on Ashburton Town Council in Devon, as Alan "Howling Laud" Hope was elected unopposed. He subsequently became deputy mayor and later mayor of Ashburton in 1998 until he moved to Hampshire after Sutch's death. For over a decade, his hotel The Golden Lion in Ashburton was the party's headquarters and conference centre.
Two councillors subsequently became mayors: Alan Hope in Ashburton in Devon and Chris "Screwy" Driver on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
At the Bootle by-election in May 1990, the Loony candidate received more votes than the candidate for the continuing Social Democrats. The story was a major headline in many UK newspapers; ironically, the by-election itself had attracted little coverage. Bootle is still regarded by the party as their most significant result in politics, albeit one largely lampooning the political world.
In the 1995 Perth and Kinross by-election, the OMRLP received more votes than the United Kingdom Independence Party and the Scottish Greens. In the 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, the OMRLP candidate Lady Lily the Pink polled more votes than UKIP. The party fielded 24 candidates and won a record number of votes in the 2019 general election, when it polled 9,739 votes, the party's highest vote at a general election.
The party has yet to save its deposit at a by-election by winning at least 5% of the vote, although Screaming Lord Sutch came close at the 1994 Rotherham by-election as the party's leader, winning 4.2% of the vote.

General elections

By-elections

48th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
1983 Bermondsey by-election	David Sutch	97	0.3
1983 Darlington by-election	David Sutch	374	0.7

49th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
1983 Penrith and The Border by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	412	1.1
1984 Chesterfield by-election	David Sutch	178	0.3
1985 Brecon and Radnor by-election	David Sutch	202	0.5
1986 Fulham by-election	David Sutch	134	0.4
1986 Newcastle-under-Lyme by-election	David Sutch	277	0.7

50th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
1988 Kensington by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	61	0.3
1988 Glasgow Govan by-election	Lord Sutch	174	0.6
1988 Epping Forest by-election	David Sutch	208	0.6
1989 Richmond by-election	David "Lord" Sutch	167	0.3
1989 Vale of Glamorgan by-election	"Lord" David Sutch	266	0.5
1989 Vauxhall by-election	"Lord" David Sutch	106	0.4
1990 Mid Staffordshire by-election	Lord David Sutch	336	0.6
May 1990 Bootle by-election	Lord David Sutch	418	1.2
1990 Knowsley South by-election	David Sutch	197	0.9
November 1990 Bootle by-election	Lord David Sutch	310	1.1
1990 Bradford North by-election	Wild Willi Beckett	210	0.6
1991 Ribble Valley by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	278	0.6
1991 Neath by-election	David Sutch	263	0.8
1991 Monmouth by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	314	0.7
1991 Liverpool Walton by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	546	1.4

51st Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
1993 Newbury by-election	Lord David Sutch	432	0.7
1993 Christchurch by-election	David Sutch	404	0.8
1994 Rotherham by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	1,114	4.2
1994 Bradford South by-election	David Sutch	727	2.4
1994 Eastleigh by-election	David Sutch	783	1.4
1995 Islwyn by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	506	2.2
1995 Perth and Kinross by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	586	1.4
1995 Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	782	1.9
1996 Hemsworth by-election	David Sutch	652	3.0
1996 South East Staffordshire by-election	David Sutch	506	1.2

52nd Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
1997 Uxbridge by-election	Screaming Lord Sutch	396	1.3
1997 Winchester by-election	Lord David Sutch	316	0.6
1999 Eddisbury by-election	Alan Hope	238	0.7
1999 Kensington and Chelsea by-election	Howling Laud Hope	20	0.1

53rd Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2002 Ogmore by-election	Leslie Edwards	187	1.0
2003 Brent East by-election	Alan Hope	59	0.3
2004 Leicester South by-election	R. U. Seerius	225	0.8
2004 Hartlepool by-election	Alan Hope	80	0.3

54th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2006 Blaenau Gwent by-elections	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	318	1.2
2006 Bromley and Chislehurst by-election	John Cartwright	132	0.5
2007 Ealing Southall by-election	John Cartwright	188	0.5
2007 Sedgefield by-election	Alan Hope	129	0.5
2008 Crewe and Nantwich by-election	The Flying Brick	236	0.6
2008 Henley by-election	Bananaman Owen	242	0.7
2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election	Mad Cow-Girl	412	1.7
2009 Norwich North by-election	Alan Hope	144	0.4

55th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election	Nick "The Flying Brick" Delves	145	0.4
2011 Barnsley Central by-election	Howling Laud Hope	198	0.8
2011 Leicester South by-election	Howling Laud Hope	553	1.6
2012 Bradford West by-election	Howling Laud Hope	111	0.3
2012 Croydon North by-election	John Cartwright	110	0.4
2012 Manchester Central by-election	Howling Laud Hope	78	0.5
2013 Eastleigh by-election	Howling Laud Hope	136	0.3
2013 South Shields by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	197	0.8
2014 Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election	Captain Chaplington-Smythe	288	1.2
2014 Newark by-election	Nick The Flying Brick	168	0.4
2014 Clacton by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	127	0.4
2014 Rochester and Strood by-election	Hairy Knorm Davidson	151	0.4

56th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2015 Oldham West and Royton by-election	Sir Oink A-Lot	141	0.5
2016 Tooting by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	54	0.2
2016 Witney by-election	Mad Hatter	129	0.3
2016 Richmond Park by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	184	0.5
2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election	The Incredible Flying Brick	127	0.6

57th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2018 Lewisham East by-election	Howling Laud Hope	93	0.4
2019 Peterborough by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	112	0.3
2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election	Lady Lily Pink	334	1.0

58th Parliament

Election	Candidate	Votes	% of votes
2021 Hartlepool by-election	The Incredible Flying Brick	104	0.3
2021 Batley and Spen by-election	Howling Laud Hope	107	0.3
2021 Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election	Mad Mike Young	94	0.4
2021 North Shropshire by-election	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	118	0.3
2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election	The Good Knight Sir NosDa	49	0.3
2022 Wakefield by-election	Sir Archibald Stanton Earl 'Eaton	171	0.6
2022 City of Chester by-election	Howling Laud Hope	156	0.6
2023 West Lancashire by-election	Howling Laud Hope	210	0.9
2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election	Sir Archibald Stanton	172	0.5
2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election	Howling Laud Hope	32	0.1
2023 Tamworth by-election	Howling Laud Hope	155	0.6
2023 Mid Bedfordshire by-election	Ann Kelly	249	0.6
2024 Wellingborough by-election	Nick the Flying Brick	217	0.7
2024 Rochdale by-election	Ravin Rodent Subortna	209	0.7
2024 Blackpool South by-election	Howling Laud Hope	121	0.7