Election '97: Natural Law Party Manifesto: elite yogic flying squad to save world with its high ideals

The Natural Law Party is not pleased. The three main parties are stealing its best ideas.

Dr Geoffrey Clements, lead-er of the Natural Law Party, can reel off every item of political clothing that has been shamelessly pilfered. "We said in our last manifesto that government should be more streamlined and cohesive, and now John Major is saying the same thing. We said mothers should not have to go out to work, and now he is giving them tax breaks," Dr Clements said yesterday at the launch of the party manifesto.

"And look at Paddy Ashdown. We talked about developing the latent potential of the individual, and now he is saying the same thing. As for Tony Blair, his talk of society integrating with the individual is very similar to ours."

But there is something the Natural Law Party has, which the others do not have a hope of copying: levitation, or, to use the correct term, yogic flying.

This would be the first policy brought into action by a Clements administration. A very Special Air Service, drawn mainly from the armed forces, of 7,000 yogic flyers, would hover into action and "actualise all the beautiful goals and highest ideals of the nation".

"Look, we are not making empty promises," said the deputy leader, Peter Warburton. "This is the blueprint to create heaven on Earth. By using reliable technology that we know works - transcendental meditation and and yogic flying - we can achieve our goals."

Arriving at the figure of 7,000 is quite simple. Dr Clements, who has a PhD in Physics, said: "The number must reflect the square root of 1 per cent of the population. For the UK, this would only come to about 700 to 800. But we feel we owe it to ourselves to help not just this country, but the the world. One per cent of the square root of the world population is 7,000."

The party itself has an international connection. Its philosophy is based on the teachings of the Indian Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh, one of whose followers, the former Beatle, George Harrison, is a backer of the party.

The Natural Law Party, which is said to be financed by subscriptions from members, is to field about 300 candidates. In the event that it wins the election, the party claims it would offer prominent individuals cabinet posts. Among the key appointments would be Sir James Goldsmith, leader of the Referendum Party, as Chancellor; Sir Paul Condon, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, as Home Secretary; Anita Roddick, of Body Shop, as Foreign Secretary; and Bruce Gyngell, of Yorkshire TV as National Heritage Minister.