Tim Martin on Vienna’s Beer Party: ‘We long for the day when Loonies are top of the polls’
As the possibility that Vienna’s next elected mayor is a representative of the Beer Party enters the realm of the semi-plausible, Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin has applauded the party and said he “long[s] for the day when Loonies are top of the polls”.
Austria’s Beer Party is surging, now polling at 12 per cent ahead of the Vienna State Election in figures released yesterday, and it looks like the satirical party could actually be in with a chance of securing a place in the halls of power.
In a jovial talk with City A.M. Martin said: “Wetherspoon applauds the efforts of the Beer Party.
“We feel there is ample room for a similar party in the UK. However, Wetherspoon has a conflict of interest, since we’ve long supported the Monster Raving Loony Party and, in particular, its esteemed leader Alan ‘Howling Laud’ Hope. We long for the day when the Loonies are top of the polls, with the Beer-boys a close second!”
Founded in 2015 by musician, Dominik Wlazny, from popular punk band, Turbobier (whose stage name is Marco Pogo), the Austrian Beer Party has a number of unusual campaign policies; the most popular being to install a beer fountain in the capital city.
Some of the other unorthodox policies include a 50 per cent tax on Radlers (the infamous Bavarian lemonade-beer concoction), a monthly barrel of beer for all Austrian households (50 litres per adult, 20 litres per child), and the abolition for mandatory closing times for bars and restaurants.
Despite the many satirical campaign policies, the Beer Party does address more serious issues too. They have called for investment in Vienna’s public transport, adopted a progressive stance on trans rights and the environment, and are calling for the safe housing of Ukrainian refugees in Austria.
There have been multiple beer parties before, Friends of Beer Party in Czech Republic, Polish Beer Lovers’ Party, Ukrainian Beer Lovers Party, but none have been taken quite as seriously as the Austria Beer Party.
So will we be seeing any beer parties in London anytime soon?
In last year’s Austrian presidential elections, the Beer Party managed to secure around eight percent of the vote.