we went to the monster raving loony party conference and it was, well, loony

Members of the Monster Raving Loony Parties conference are seen in Ledbury,Herefordshire on September 25 2025 (Credits: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)

It’s not every party conference where Donald Trump,Margaret Thatcher and Sir Sadiq Khan end up side by side.

Then again,the Monster Raving Loony Party’s annual conference isn’t pretending to be your typical political gathering.

Of course,those famous faces weren’t really in attendance at this year’s event,which was held in the quiet village of Ledbury in Herefordshire.

Instead it was the mask-clad members of the unmissable Loony party who turned up for their first day of fun and policy planning before the political year ahead.

Despite their quirks,the party say they believe they’re the ‘normal’ ones now – and all the other Westminster parties are ‘out-loonying’ them.

So,are they right?

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Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight,walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.Determined to find the answer,Metro went along to their 41st conference and spoke to members to find out what really goes on behind the scenes at the UK’s strangest political party.Howling Laud Hope is seen at the launch of the Monster Raving Loony Parties conference in Ledbury,Herefordshire (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)

A colourful leader with decades of experience

If you’ve had enough of constant leadership changes in recent governments,you’ll like Alan ‘Howling Laud’ Hope,who’s been in charge of the Loony Party for 26 years.A former rock and roll performer and publican,he was elected leader of the party 1999 after the party’s co-founder,Screaming Lord Sutch,died in 1999 aged 58. The pair established the party in 1982 with an aim to ‘bring frivolity to otherwise dull elections.’Their tongue-in-cheek policies include scrapping VAT because it ‘adds no value’,reduce NHS waiting lists by making the text font smaller,and introducing ‘The Court of Human Lefts’ to balance out The Court of Human Rights.Former leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party,died in 1999 (Picture: REUTERS)Howling Laud Hope is seen in Blackpool,where he stood last year for the Blackpool South by-election. He lost to Labour MP Chris Webb by 10,704 votes (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Hope has tried and failed to become an elected MP many times over the years,having entered the race for at least one by-election every year since 2004. But,that’s not stopped him from throwing his white cowboy hat into the ring.He said that he’s sick of all the constant churn at Westminster,which is why his party conference will hold their ‘world famous cabinet reshuffle’ this weekend.Unlike the Downing Street one,this reshuffle is literal,with the party members set to jump inside a bedroom cabinet on the conference floor.The cabinet reshuffle is the set piece event of the entire conference (Picture: Monster Raving Loony Party Conference)

A Minister for Chocolate

While ministers for transport,health,women’s rights and equalities might be at the top of the agenda for the Labour Government,the Loony Party has their priorities focused in other areas.‘We have a Minister for Chocolate,’ Howling Laud Hope told Metro. ‘The Minister for Chocolate can jump in and say “I am now the Minister for something else.”’Howling Laud Hope is seen being interviewed by Metro news reporter Luke Alsford (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Yes,the party really has a Minister for Chocolate. Their first policy? Free chocolate,and ice cream for all pensioners.That’s not the only perk for elder voters,either. They plan to give away two votes to the over-85s because ‘they’ve earned it’.

Eat dodos,not swans

Chocolate was not the only food on the political agenda in Ledbury.After Nigel Farage caused fury by suggesting migrants are eating swans,the Loony party’s deputy leader said people should be feasting on dodos instead.Baron von Thunderclap,whose shirt reads ‘Save the Dodos’,called the birds are ‘very tasty’.Deputy leaders Baron Von Thunderclap (L) and ‘Agent Chinners’ are ready for action (Credits: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)The Loony members want to save the Dodo. Sadly,it’s already extinct (Credits: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)The dodo is,of course,already extinct and can’t be saved,although some scientists have claimed they are close to bringing back it back after 300 years.

No more consonants in the Welsh language

Von Thunderclap has contested the Mid Sussex constituency six times for the Loony Party and once stood for the Welsh assembly,where he got 1,200 votes.He plans to try his luck in a Welsh seat again next year,and has dreamt up a policy he thinks will do the trick with voters.Von Thunderclap wants to trim down their traditional language,famous for its long words and lack of vowels.‘All these silly extra consonants in their words,they’re a bit greedy,’ he told Metro. ‘We will limit it to one l per word.’

£1,000,000 for all

One member can be seen enjoying the party’s festivities (Credits: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)The state of public finances is one of the most important issues affecting voters today,and the Monster Raving Loony Party have an answer for that too.They want to re-route the English channel,away from France and towards the Channel Islands,so they can turn the UK into a ‘tax-haven’.The policy that’s really going to catch everyone’s eye is their plan to dish out £1,000 to every Brit.This idea was enthusiastically described to Metro by an anonymous new member,who preferred to be pictured with a rather creepy mask.He said: ‘The country is bankrupt. We owe trillions. What we are going to do is sort out our national deficit is say we aren’t going to pay it back,we’ll print our own money.Anonymous party member was seen to be very excited about the party’s goals for the future (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Member of the party ‘O’be joyful’ was also at yesterday’s launch of the conference (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)‘Everyone in the country gets a million pounds. But also Bill Gates gets a million pounds and the rest would be taken away. It will be the “Great Reset”.’Another first time Loony Party conference-goer John Campbell said he had been given a £1,000 note by the party’s first ever leader ‘Screaming Lord Sutch’ at a club in London decades ago.Now,years later,he decided to come along and see what the fuss is all about.

‘This is now the sensible party’

What unites the wave of newcomers to the party is simple: they see loony as the new normal.John explained: ‘It is the only party conference that makes any sense.‘All the others will be more lies and more lies. The lies we have been told by every other party. The Monster Raving Loony Party is the future.’Party member John Campbell said he believes the party is more sane than any other in Westminster (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Member of the party Steve Lawson was seen getting into the spirit (Credits: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)As another newbie put it: ‘We have got to change our name. We are the party of sanity compared to the others.’Over dozens of general elections and by-elections the Loony Party candidates have racked up thousands of votes.And they are convinced the recent Runcorn and Helsby by-election in May proves they are now an influential force in British politics.The ballot was won by Reform’s Sarah Pochin by six votes over her Labour opponent,but a certain Howling Laud Hope found 128 supporters.He was out campaigning in the local Wetherspoons hours before votes were counted,and he persuaded just enough life-long Labour supporters to back him instead – changing the outcome of the crucial poll.

A powerful political force?

Member of the party Steve Lawson had all his badges ready to go for this year’s conference (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Could we be about to get more Loony voters? Hope is convinced the answer is yes.He said the turn will come with the introduction of votes at 16,which he claims Labour and the Lib Dems stole as a policy from him.Hope said: ‘Whenever schools hold their own mock elections during a general election,you’d be surprised how many times the Loony Party wins.‘If we get votes at 16 we will get loads more votes.’The party already claims to have 160,000 members all over the world,from New Zealand and Australia to Canada,the US and Argentina.There was even a ‘Monster Radio’ set up by a member in Lanzarote in the Canary Isles,which prided itself on ‘an extremely eclectic’ of music.That eclectic mix of music,and an array of pints,was on full display as Metro departed Ledbury,leaving the Loony party faithful to debate dodos and consonants for the rest of a busy weekend.