Will Hartlepool give a monkey's?

AT the height of the Napoleonic Wars, as the nation was trembling at the prospect of invasion, the good people of Hartlepool did their bit for their country. Alas, their noble intentions also earned their town an unwanted footnote in history.

As they scrutinized the wreckage of a French ship which had been dashed against the rocks, nervous fishermen came across one rather bedraggled survivor. Dressed in a military uniform was a sorrowful-looking monkey, kept as a pet by the sailors who had now gone to their doom.

When the monkey refused to talk, despite fierce questioning by the fishermen, there was only one conclusion - it was a French spy and should be hanged. Hoisting the creature up the mast of a coble, the fishermen dispensed their own summary justice on the poor unfortunate.

While not knowing what a monkey looked like may have been excusable, even in a seafaring town, not knowing what a Frenchman looked like was surely bordering on the parochial. And the result has been forever to cast the citizens of Hartlepool in the role of monkey-hangers, usually seen as something of an insult.

Almost 200 years on, the townsfolk of Hartlepool may be in danger of aping their forebears. In the race to become the borough's first directly-elected mayor, a man who spends his weekends dressing up as a monkey is emerging as something of a favourite.

Bookmakers have stopped taking bets on the monkey, otherwise known as H'Angus, mascot of Hartlepool Football Club, otherwise known as Stuart Drummond, 28-year-old call centre worker, after a surge of interest from punters.

And it was not hard to find monkey supporters among the sun-worshippers taking their lunch in full glare of the town's civic centre yesterday. While the more established parties are desperately trying to get their candidates noticed, monkey is the name on everybody's lips.

'I think we need new blood, and he is saying he will do something for the young people. There's nothing for the young people in the town," says mother-of-five Ann Thayne, 55. "I think it is about time there were things for the kids to do, instead of just hanging around." Presumably that Napoleonic monkey wasn't keen on hanging around either.

While Ann is planning to vote for H'Angus, she is not optimistic about his chances. But her daughter, also Ann, 36, and also a monkey supporter, is more positive.

"I think the monkey might win. He is young, and I think we need somebody refreshing, with new ideas. I think it will be quite close - I've got a few friends who've said they'll vote for him," she says.

The monkey himself acknowledges that his venture into politics started off as a joke. But now there are worrying signs he is beginning to sound like a real politician. Once his platform comprised of giving free bananas to every school pupil. Now he talks of tackling crime.

"Originally it was a publicity stunt, but once we started talking about it seriously, we felt we could make a difference. I thought it would bring a bit of interest to the election," says Stuart, who works at Garland's call centre in the town's Marina.

"The first policy the media picked up on was bananas for the school kids. That was a bit of a joke, but we got backing from the milk marketing board. There are a lot of things that need to be done in the town.

"Crime needs to be cut. We've got to get to the bottom of that and we need to get more police on the beat."

But his main aim is to focus attention on the plight of the town's youth and the shortage of facilities. And while his campaign may have started as a laugh, Stuart says he is not fazed by the prospect that he might actually win. "We didn't think it was a possibility at first, but since I put myself forward I have had nothing but positive responses from everyone I speak to.

"I would love it if I won, I'm not daunted by it at all. I would have a lot to learn, I don't know the workings of the council, but I would hope for full support from everyone in the council, because it would be the people's choice."

But for Denny Hunter, 58, having a monkey as mayor is not something to be savoured. "It is a joke. He has got the support of all the football fans and if he wins it will make Hartlepool a joke."

Denny himself does not plan to vote - all politicians are the same, he says - but it is this approach which may well see the monkey claim the laurels, according to Professor John Tomaney, of Newcastle University's Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies.

"If the monkey were to get in, it would indicate a general malaise in local politics in Britain. It also reveals that one of the problems with the elected mayors' approach to rejuvenating local politics is that name recognition is of critical importance.

"It is important in Middlesbrough, with Ray Mallon being a well-known figure and that gives him a head start. And clearly H'Angus is a well-known figure."

And while joke candidates may feature regularly in elections, the fact one could become Hartlepool's first citizen suggests a fault in the drive to create elected mayors across the country.

"The idea of elected mayors is something of a quick fix to what is a rather deep-rooted set of problems," says Prof Tomaney. "It was nave to believe that elected mayors were going to be the solution. There are other issues to do with the fact that local government is dependent on national government for its resources and there is very little autonomy for councils, and people understand that."

While this may explain voter apathy to some extent, there is also a general malaise sweeping Europe, a feeling that there are no major political issues, and there is no reason to be interested in politics. The same apathy, Prof Tomaney believes, which saw Jean-Marie Le Pen come second in the first ballot of the French presidential election. Whatever Hartlepool does, it cannot escape its French connection.

"Clearly there is a very serious problem with people getting involved in local politics, even to the extent of being bothered to go out to vote," he says. "But it is a wider problem. Turnout in the General Election was only 58 per cent, and apathy was a factor in France.

"People are losing their faith in our political class. If the monkey gets in, it will a case of that and people wanting to cock a snook at the existing political structures."

But while a simian victory may leave Hartlepool open to more ridicule, back outside the civic centre, where the mayor will shortly be ensconced, Ann Thayne is bullish about the prospect.

"It would be shallow-minded people who would think that, just because he has a job as a monkey, he couldn't be mayor. A lot of people will laugh, and older people may think it's a joke, but the monkey has got my vote."

* The full list of candidates in the Hartlepool mayoral election is: Stephen Close (Conservative); Stuart Drummond (H'Angus); Leo Gillen (Labour); Arthur Preece (Liberal Democrat).