These days, Britain's increasingly polarised politics seems to take itself more seriously than ever.

After more than four decades on the campaign trail, however, Alan "Howling Laud" Hope still believes there is room for humour, silliness and absurdity on the ballot paper.

The 84-year-old leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party has stood in 37 parliamentary elections, each time dressed in his trademark white suit, Stetson and oversized rosette.

He has also served as a mayor and town councillor, and is preparing for his 38th campaign in next month's Clacton by-election.

Meeting in the Prince Arthur Wetherspoon pub in his hometown of Fleet, Alan reflects on a lifetime of injecting silliness into British politics – something he continues to do unashamedly, even as the country's political culture has rarely felt more divided.

That change has become all the more apparent following the suspected murder of former MP Ann Widdecombe, who lived near Alan's former home in Ashburton, Devon.

Alan met her a couple of times. "She seemed nice, and she always said what she believed," he reflects.

Born and raised in the Blackwater Valley area, Alan has led the Official Monster Raving Loony Party since 1999, taking over after the death of founder David “Screaming Lord” Sutch.

The pair first met at a nightclub in Camberley during the 1960s before losing touch. Years later, they met again when Alan was living in Devon.

"We hadn't seen each other in 15 years but we remembered each other," Alan recalls.

Their reunion led to the formation of the Monster Raving Loony Party.

"Lord Sutch and I started the party on June 16, 1982. I remember because it's my birthday."

Many of the party's once-ridiculed policies have since been adopted by mainstream political parties.

"You could leave school at 15, get called up at 18 and given a gun and shoot somebody but you couldn't vote until 21 – it wasn't right."

Alan points out that the voting age was later reduced.

Another proposal mocked at the time was passports for pets, so people could take their animals abroad with them.

"They said 'don't be so stupid, of course you can't do that.' Now it's the law."

It was one scathing political commentator who inadvertently gave the party its name after dismissing Sutch's manifesto as "nothing more than the rantings of a raving loony".

More than 40 years later, Alan remains one of Britain's most recognisable election regulars.

"I've stood at 37 elections – next month Clacton will be 38. More elections for a single party than anyone else.

"Lord Sutch stood in 37, so I'll beat his record."

While parliamentary success has proved elusive – Alan has never secured the five percent of the vote needed to reclaim his election deposit – local politics has told a different story.

While living in Devon, Alan was mayor of Ashburton between 1998 and 2000 on a Loony Party ticket. He is now a Fleet town councillor, where he has also served as chairman and vice-chairman of planning.

His best parliamentary performance came in Fleet, where he once polled 557 votes.

"At national elections they don't know me, round here they do," he says.

The Monster Raving Loony Party has become a familiar sight at British election counts and, according to Alan, now has more than 100,000 members worldwide – or "looniversally", as he puts it.

With little prospect of ever winning a seat, why keep going?

"We're poking fun at the system, making ourselves known, and we're allowed to do it," says Alan.

"You know, when we turn up at these elections, all the media say 'thank Christ you're here, it won't be so boring now.'

"The other comment we get is 'it wouldn't be a real election if you weren't here.'"

With politics increasingly resembling satire itself, does Britain still need the Loonies?

"If that's the case, that means we're winning, aren't we?" Alan says.

Having led the party since 1999, Alan has watched governments and party leaders come and go.

He believes their short-lived nature is because most politicians promise far more than they deliver.

"Most politicians are only in it for their own ends. We all know that," he says.

"Once they're in, they say 'I'm going to do that, I'm going to do this' but it's all talk.

"I say the Monster Raving Loony Party will do all the things other parties say they're going to do when they don't do it."

Over the years he has met politicians from across the political spectrum, including Paddy Ashdown, David Cameron and George Galloway.

Among those he knows is Nigel Farage, now his political opponent in the Clacton by-election.

"I know a lot of people don't like him, but I get on very well with Nigel Farage," says Alan.

"We've had a few pints together, he's done me no harm, and I've done him no harm. I don't hate anybody."

Alan believes Farage will comfortably retain the seat.

"I think Nigel will romp home," he says. "But I think he's harmed his chances of being Prime Minister. He did the wrong thing calling a by-election here."

Another opponent on the ballot paper will be Count Binface, the trash-can wearing satirical character created by British comedian Jon Harvey.

"Binface might get one or two more votes than me," Alan predicts. "This is the third time we've stood together, but he beat me by a few votes – not by a lot.

"But he's taken some of our ideas. We had an idea for a 99 pence coin, now he's saying 99 Flakes should be 99p."

Despite regular calls for the pair to join forces, Alan has no interest in a Loony-Bin coalition.

"These types come and they go, but I'm the original one. They're saying I should stand aside to give Binface a chance, but I think he's the one who should stand aside for me."

Whatever the result, Alan is not convinced that politics is any more partisan than in the past.

"Politics has always been divided and nasty," he says. "Why do you think Guy Fawkes did what he did?"

He does, however, believe social media has changed the landscape.

"These days, anyone can get in touch with you anonymously and say what they like," he says. "I just tend to ignore it, though."

Away from politics, Alan has owned pubs across Devon and the Blackwater Valley, including in Farnborough, Aldershot and Yateley, while also performing as a rock and country musician.

He is now looking for someone to stand for the Monster Raving Loony Party in the Farnham and Bordon constituency.

If elected, that candidate's first priority has already been decided.

"Get that Wetherspoons open in Farnham as quickly as possible.

"I might get there a bit more. It would be good for the town."

That perhaps explains why Alan proudly says he has visited hundreds of Wetherspoons across Britain.

"I've been to 732 Wetherspoons in the country. Apart from politics that's my other interest. I'm a big fan of them."

Another of his favourite ideas was the National Pothole Preservation Society, which he proposed while living in Devon.

"I said ‘How dare you drill them up, we should save them for our young’."

Looking around the roads of Fleet and Farnham, Alan is thinking of reviving that policy.

"I might start that society around here as well," he says with a smile.