Members of the Monster Raving Loony Party at a conference
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Reshuffle to launch Loony Party’s conference
By Stephen LloydSeptember 23, 2008
Expect plenty of fun and frolics when Monster Raving Loony Party members descend on Hook for their annual conference later this week.
Delegates will start arriving at the Raven Hotel in Station Road on Thursday.
Their conference kicks off on Friday lunchtime with the party’s world famous cabinet reshuffle.
Party leader Alan ‘Howlin Laud’ Hope explained: “We have a bedroom cabinet that we all get into and then shuffle around.
“This has always caught our imagination, as when the major parties have a cabinet reshuffle you can have a minister for education one day who becomes minister for transport the next — when they obviously don’t know anything about the subject.
“In the same way, our minister for underwater flying could soon become the minister for extremely silly walks without knowing anything about it either.”
Mr Hope, who lives in Fleet, added: “This will be our 26th annual conference.
“Up until 2000 we used to hold them in the Golden Lion Hotel in Ashburton, Devon.
“I bought the hotel in 1978 with my wife Norma and it was the party headquarters. Then I came up to the Dog and Partridge in Yateley in 2000 and we held five conferences there.”
In September 2005, the party held its annual conference at Tudors in Aldershot, in 2006 it was in Torrington, north Devon, and last year it was held in Jersey.
Mr Hope said: “This year we’re keeping it local.
“We couldn’t think of a better place to hold a Monster Raving Loony Party conference than in the Raven — it all makes sense now.
“Also, Julian the landlord at the Raven has always shown an interest in the party and it was his suggestion a year and a half ago to hold it there.
“It all fits in very well really, because we have a large contingency coming from the Channel Islands who will fly into Southampton and then get the train straight up.
“It’s also on a straight line from Waterloo, so it really is ideal.”
Mr Hope said most of the conference would be taken up with fringe meetings.
He added: “They’ll be lots of lobbying going on —especially in the lobby.
“Members will also be putting forward new motions.
“One of the main things we’ll be debating is European discrimination.
“We would like to know why there is only a European Commission for human rights and not one for human lefts.”
As always, Mr Hope is looking forward to the conference.
He said: “It never ceases to amaze me what does happen and what sort of odd people turn up out of the blue.
“I remember the tallest women in Great Britain turned up to our 2001 conference at the Dog and Partridge in a pink Rolls Royce.
“She called herself Penelope Pitstop and reckoned she had come from Tracy Island.
“She even became a member but we haven’t seen her since. Perhaps she was over-qualified.
“At one conference we held a summit meeting on the top of Haytor Rock, the highest summit on Dartmoor.
“At another one we had a space hopper race.”
Mr Hope added: “This is the time of year when nothing much happens anyway, so it’s up to us to inject a bit of serious fun into proceedings.
“We’ve had media interest from all over the world at our conferences, including Korea, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Brazil and Argentina.”
A number of live bands have been booked. Staines-based soft rock outfit What’s Next and comedy duo The Big Fibbers will play on Friday evening.
The Big Fibbers will again play on Saturday, along with The Bolivian Sunshine Dogs.
“They are a big comedy band so they should fit in well,” said Mr Hope.
Also playing on Saturday will be Crondall-based Elvis impersonator Dale Fontaine,
“I insisted he becomes a member just so he could do the gig,” said Mr Hope, who thanked the Greene King brewery and Grolsch Blonde Lager for their support during the conference.
Anyone can attend and listen to the conference, but only Monster Raving Loony Party members can take part in the debates.
“It only costs £9.99 to join, which backs up our wonderful policy of minting a 99p coin,” said Mr Hope.
For more details about the conference call the Raven Hotel on 01256 762541. More information on the Monster Raving Loony Party can be found at www.omrlp.com.
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