FROM 1997 I was active in politics. As well as standing in elections I would often go and help in various parts of the country to campaign in by-elections which brought me into contact with many from other political parties.
When attending the by-election count in 2008 after the sad death of Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, I got chatting to a Monster Raving Looney member and commiserated with him about losing their leader, Screaming Lord Such. I then asked who their new leader was. Embarrassingly the reply was: ‘Me.’ Whoops! I was speaking to Alan ‘Howling Laud’ Hope.
Over other by-election campaigns I met him again and he once joined another campaigner and myself for a pint when taking a break during the Newark by-election. After seeing and listening to Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, during the Gorton and Denton by-election, if I had a choice between the Green Party leader and Alan ‘Howling Laud’ Hope as the next Prime Minister, I would definitely feel safer with the Monster Raving Looney Party leader as he, at least when you talk to him, has a lot of common sense, something the Green Party leader seems to lack.
Derek Bennett
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