Church of the Militant Elvis Party

The Church of the Militant Elvis Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. The leader of the party is David Bishop who also goes by the nickname of Lord Biro/Bus-pass Elvis. The party has 6 registered campaign groups: 'Bus-pass Elvis Party', 'Elvis Defence League', 'Elvis turns Green Party', 'Grumpy old Elvis Party', 'Militant Elvis Anti-Tesco Popular Front' (MEAT-PF) and the 'Elvis and the Yeti Himalayan Preservation Party' as well as 'Militant Elvis Anti-HS2'.

The party is concerned with the depletion of the Amazon rainforest, climate change, the power of Tesco on the British high street and the power of large corporations. A book on Elvis noted that "an obviously ironic attitude toward Elvis is used in the service of rather serious anti-imperialist political objectives".[1] It deregistered in December 2008,[2] but re-registered in March 2010[3] and stood in the 2010 general election in Kettering,[4] gaining 112 votes.[5]

Electoral history

Bishop previously stood in the 1997 general election in Tatton against Neil Hamilton as "Lord Byro versus the Scallywag Tories", gaining 116 votes (0.2%).[6]

He first stood as the Church of the Miltant Elvis in the 2001 General Election in Brentwood, where the party came last with 52 votes. Bishop stood in the same seat as then Veritas politician Robert Kilroy-Silk in the 2005 General Election in Erewash. He promised to place giant photos of celebrities at airports "to discourage undesirable foreigners from entering Britain", to have a public inquiry into British vets' fees, to go to Antarctica and shout at icebergs to "stop melting", to "present Mr Blair with an Oscar for his marvellous performance as a sincere politician", to give Kilroy-Silk a job as "keeper of the Royal stool",[7] and to preserve the red squirrel. He campaigned in a red cat suit, and says he was heckled while campaigning.[8] The party gained 116 votes and again came in last place.

Bishop stood again as one of 26 candidates in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008,[9][10] on a platform of overthrowing the capitalist state, due to it turning Elvis into a "fat media joke". He argued that George W Bush is the anti-Christ, and campaigned to imprison Cherie Blair to prevent her reporting details of her sex life, and to place CCTV in the bedroom of Nick Clegg.[11] He came 17th with 44 votes (0.2%).[12]

Campaign pledges for the 2010 general election for Kettering included filling in potholes, bringing back dog licences, introducing moats around houses, Bono for Pope, turning public schools into pound shops, and keeping public lavatories.[4]

Bishop stood for election in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election on 13 January 2011 as the candidate for the Bus-Pass Elvis Party, gaining 67 votes (0.1% of votes).[13][14]

In the Corby by-election on 15 November 2012, as candidate for the Elvis Loves Pets party, Bishop came 10th out of 14 candidates, with 99 votes (0.28% of votes), almost three times the vote of the candidate for the apparently politically serious Democracy 2015, which was fighting its first election.[15]

On 28 February 2013, Bishop stood in the Eastleigh by-election, 2013 as a candidate for the Elvis Loves Pets party, registering 72 votes (0.17%).

On 6 March 2014, standing as the Bus-Pass Elvis Party, Bishop won 2.3% of the vote in a by-election for the Clifton North ward of Nottingham City Council, taking fourth place in the election, ahead of the Liberal Democrats.

References

  1. ↑ Reece, Gregory L. (2006). "Elvis on the internet". Elvis religion: the cult of the King. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-256-3.
  2. ↑ "List of Political Parties either renamed or deregistered since 2002" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "Church of the Militant Elvis". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 Matthews, Jenny (28 April 2010). "Election 2010: Potholes to peace – more unusual pledges". BBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  5. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20100528145838/http://www.northantset.co.uk:80/general/ELECTION-RESULTS--Corby-Kettering.6279323.jp. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "Tatton". Guardian (London). Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  7. ↑ Matthews, Jenny (2 May 2005). "The more unusual election pledges". BBC News. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "9 days to go". The Guardian (London). 26 April 2005. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  9. ↑ "Davis launches campaign, faces militant Elvis party". 27 June 2008.
  10. ↑ East Riding of Yorkshire Council (26 June 2008). "Statement as to persons nominated and notice of poll" (PDF). Retrieved 26 June 2008.
  11. ↑ "Guide: The Haltemprice hopefuls". BBC News. 2 July 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  12. ↑ "David Bishop: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  13. ↑ "Ten candidates to fight Oldham by-election". BBC News. 23 December 2010.
  14. ↑ "Oldham by-election results". BBC News. 14 January 2011.
  15. ↑ "By-elections: Labour takes Corby from Conservatives". BBC. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.

External links

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