Mascot makes a monkey of Tony

One of Tony Blair's most cherished political projects descended into farce today when a man in a monkey suit became one of Britain's first directly elected mayors.

Stuart Drummond, whose alter ego is H'Angus the monkey mascot of Hartlepool Football Club, beat off Labour on a manifesto which included free bananas for schoolchildren. Mr Drummond, who as H'Angus has been ejected from two away grounds for lewd behaviour, takes up the top civic post with a salary of £53,000 a year.

His victory, the headline grabber among seven contests for mayors, undermined the entire project, which was strongly backed by Mr Blair as a way of bringing democracy closer to voters.

Mr Drummond's victory, which saw him defeat Labour's Leo Gillen by more than 600 votes, won him the congratulations of Hartlepool's MP, former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, who praised him as "very committed". Mr Mandelson added: "I will operate with you in every way I can." He told reporters: "Stuart's campaign was not about monkeys, it was about real people, their aspirations, their hopes and their fears, particularly young people of this town."

Labour chairman Charles Clarke, however, admitted that the victory could force ministers to rethink their mayoral policy. He referred to yesterday's mayoral elections as a "pilot scheme" and added: "I think the monkey case is a serious issue."

Mr Drummond appeared to be making a late bid for political respectability, leaving his monkey suit at home and wearing a suit for his acceptance speech, as well as stressing education issues and the closure of a local leisure centre. Elsewhere in the Mayoral contests, the main focus of interest was Middlesbrough, when so-called "Robocop" Ray Mallon was discovering today if he had beaten Labour.

The former Cleveland Police chief superintendent has been credited with bringing US-style zero-tolerance policing to Britain.

Liberal Democrat Dorothy Thornhill won a three-way fight to become mayor of Watford, but elsewhere it was a string of unbroken victories for Labour, with most contests taking place in areas of strong support for Mr Blair's party. Turnout was unimpressive with most contests being voted on by less than 30 per cent of the electorate.