THE Loonies are bouncing back in the General Election as Honley's Boney Maroney goes head to head with William Hague.

Boney, also known as Melodie Staniforth, who is up against the Tory leader in his Richmond constituency, is one of 16 Monster Raving Loony Party candidates this time.

She said: "Despite the death of Lord Sutch we're still here and our membership is growing. Since January we've welcomed 340 new recruits."

Melodie's house in Church Street, Honley, is now the national campaign headquarters for the Loonies' party.

She said: "I am now the membership secretary and treasurer. We haven't got vast reserves of money, but we're ticking over!"

Party leader Lord Sutch's death in 1998 was a massive blow to the Loonies.

Melodie said: "We are bouncing back now, thanks to our revamped website by our mysterious web wizard and a totally new administrative system.

"In the past membership details were taken on beer mats and fag packets. Now we have proper forms and a database.

"Through the website at www.omrlp.com we've had inquiries from America and Canada.

"Members get a T-shirt, certificate of sanity, Loony licence, rosette and badges and receive a quarterly newsletter."

Melodie is hard at work campaigning in North Yorkshire - where Lord Sutch himself once stood.

She said: "At least I got the right Richmond, which is more than he did. He spent a lot of time and effort canvassing in Richmond, Surrey, before he realised he was standing in Yorkshire."

The other 15 Loony candidates are standing in their own home constituencies.

They include Lady Penelope in Crawley, Essex, who is 6ft 8ins tall and drives a Rolls Royce, and Baron Von Thunderclap, standing in mid-Sussex, who is campaigning to save the Dodo.