No sooner had a monkey been declared the first elected mayor of Hartlepool, than the Hartlepool Mail was being blamed for the main political parties' electoral demise.

The vote saw Hartlepool United mascot Stuart Drummond swept to power ahead of hot Labour favourite Leo Gillen.

The town's MP Peter Mandelson immediately blamed the Mail for Mr Gillen's shock defeat and said news coverage of the election had put hurdles in the way of the Labour hopeful and provided a "fair wind" for Mr Drummond.

He also described yesterday's front page story, when Mr Gillen's election agent criticised a seriously ill rival councillor, as "a stunt".

H'Angus the monkey immediately pledged to drop his monkey alter-ego and fight for Hartlepool and its people as Mayor Stuart Drummond.

Meanwhile, The Northern Echo pushed deadlines to the wire to break the historic news that a monkey had been elected Mayor.

The paper held its final edition for nearly an hour until 2am to publish one of the most famous headlines in its history: Monkey Is Mayor.

The election went to a recount with H'Angus, Labour's Mr Gillen, and Independent Ian Cameron all polling more than 5,000 votes.

But confirmation that the monkey had won meant The Northern Echo was able to get the news in for its final, main edition and organise an additional print run to deliver into Hartlepool.

Editor Peter Barron said: "It was the hairiest night I can remember but a headline announcing that a monkey had been elected mayor simply had to be published.

"It was one of the most surreal experiences of my career but in the nick of time the word came through from the count: 'The monkey's swung it!' and that was good enough for me."

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