$ sudo dpkg --force-remove-reinstreq -r hplip
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
 Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal.
(Reading database ... 336003 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing hplip ...
/usr/sbin/update-python-modules:125: DeprecationWarning: raising a string exception is deprecated
  raise "Trying to overwrite %s which is already provided by %s"%(os.path.join(dir,file),otherdir)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 315, in <module>
    process(basedir,install_modules([pyver]))
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 160, in process
    func(basedir, dir, file)
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 125, in install_modules_func
    raise "Trying to overwrite %s which is already provided by %s"%(os.path.join(dir,file),otherdir)
Trying to overwrite gtk-2.0 which is already provided by /usr/share/python-support/python-gtk2
dpkg: error processing hplip (--remove):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
/usr/sbin/update-python-modules:125: DeprecationWarning: raising a string exception is deprecated
  raise "Trying to overwrite %s which is already provided by %s"%(os.path.join(dir,file),otherdir)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 315, in <module>
    process(basedir,install_modules([pyver]))
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 160, in process
    func(basedir, dir, file)
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 125, in install_modules_func
    raise "Trying to overwrite %s which is already provided by %s"%(os.path.join(dir,file),otherdir)
Trying to overwrite gtk-2.0 which is already provided by /usr/share/python-support/python-gtk2
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 hplip