MUCH LIKE OVER here, elections come around every five years or so in the UK.
And, despite an electoral deposit of £500 designed to deter fringe candidates, polling day inevitably brings full complement of unusual characters.
While some entries are purely for humorous effect, others sincerely represent ideas that seem far-flung to the mainstream.
With the UK general election set to take place on 7 May, here we take a look though some of the more diverse elements that will be entering the field.
A long-standing oddity in the UK election scene, the Monster Raving Loony Party were set up by musician Screaming Lord Sutch (who sadly died from suicide in 1999) with the purpose of satirising the British political system.
More than thirty years after the party was set up it is still going strong and is set to field 20 candidates in the upcoming election.
The current leader of the party is Howling Laud Hope, who was jointly elected to the position with his pet cat, Catmando, in 1999. He has been the party’s sole leader since Catmando’s untimely demise in a road traffic accident in 2002. He will be running against current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the upcoming election.
The party’s policies include reducing the national debt by “selling castles back to the French” and “tax payers to receive nectar points from the HMRC”.
This party were set up by leader Mike Buchanan to fight for ‘men’s rights’, which he claims have been eroded. The party and its leader have come in for much criticism for their opposition to feminism.
In the party’s manifesto they make the rather dubious statement that, “There are no areas in which the State disadvantages women and girls.” The party will be fielding candidates in the Nottingham constituencies.
Think that Scotland is the only UK country thinking of breaking out of the Union? Think again. The English Democrats think it would be great if England went independent.
The party currently hold one local government seat in the UK and will field candidates in a number of constituencies across England in the upcoming election. Their chairman is Robin Tilbrook.
This single issue party is set to run in constituencies around the UK on the single issue of the review of cannabis laws. The party is newly formed and have a section of their website where you can take a short quiz to see if you are eligible to stand for them.
The party takes its inspiration in part from the legalisation of cannabis in some states in the US.
As leader of the ‘Free United Kingdom Party’, the comedy character Al Murray is set to contest the seat of South Thanet against Nigel Farage and a range of other colourful characters.
Murray’s election promises include making pints of beer 1p and bricking up the Channel Tunnel.
Besides Murray, Prophet Zebadiah Abu-Obadiah (real name Robert Boaler), will be running for the “Al-Zebabist Nation of OOOG”, a satirical party which policies include tax breaks for bearded families and the separation of the Isle of Thanet from the rest of the UK.
Also featured in this constituency is the ‘We are the Reality’ party – who were founded by Mark ‘Bez’ Berry, of Happy Mondays fame. The party is broadly left wing and was featured as part of a Channel 4 documentary last year.
Quite possibly the only druid represented in this year’s election, Arthur Uther Pendragon has previously had a number of run-ins with English Heritage over Stonehenge, which he campaigned for the removal of an exclusion area around. He will be running in the Salisbury constituency.
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