Doing elections the old fashioned way ……………

It is a sobering thought that many things I took for granted and did regularly have become a bit of history as anachronistic as paying someone to wake me up by tapping on the window or turning on a gas lamp.

All the electoral extravaganza, 1986

And at 74 there are heaps of these, but on this day after yesterday’s elections I am drawn to how we managed and ran local election campaigns in the middle decades of the last century.

From 1966 into the early 2000s I was one of those "party workers” who tramped the streets knocking on doors, canvassing electoral preferences and on the day tirelessly working to ensure our candidate won.

And from 1981 to ’87 and again in the mid 1990s I ran the campaign as the Agent, which involved developing the local election strategy, preparing leaflets, overseeing things during the campaign and on the day, and making a financial return.

I suspect some elements are still the same today and cross party lines but back then it was the predigital age.

Calling card, Kirkdale Ward, 1946

All records compiled from canvassing were written up by hand by an army of members onto self-carbonised pads, known as Reading or Mikado pads and arranged by street.

The Election team, 1986

These were then laid out on long tables in the Committee Rooms and on the day were used to indicate who of your promises had voted and who had to be gently and politely reminded to vote.

This involved teams of “number snatchers” who sat for hours on polling stations on the day collecting the polling numbers of voters as they left.

This in itself was a logistic exercise given that we covered all the polling stations Chorlton from when the polls opened till they closed.

This left much of the day as a quiet one of receiving the information and crossing off names on the pads, which was interspersed with a bit of early knocking up of our promises, taking those who had requested assistance to get to the polling stations and a bit of leafleting with Vote Today leaflets.

Old fashioned leaflet, 1986

And depending on the availability of the team there might also be an early round of Vote Today leafletting before breakfast, matched with regular outings with the speaker cars, throughout the day.

All of which led up to the “big push” in the evening where a team linked to a car would take a specific area working it by visiting those who had yet to vote and taking some to the polling station.

At which point the team took charge of the Reading Pads in their area, deciding which to visit and revisit.

In the 1987 General Election this worked so well that by the evening all the promises had been visited on several occasions and there were few names that had not been crossed out, leaving the teams just to crisscross the ward in their cars emblazoned in party posters.

Polling Station, 2024

And during the campaign mindful of that old tradition of meeting the candidates, we still endeavoured to hold public meetings where the candidates introduced themselves, outlined the Party Programme and their own special interests along with answering questions.

Of all the elements of the campaign this one was sadly on the decline.  The growing emphasis on the national message over the local, combined with greater television election coverage and the development of “sound bites”  pushed the public meeting to the fringe.

Afterall on a wet April evening with a chill in the air, the attraction of sitting in a school hall on uncomfortable chairs lost out to the slick performance of a polished politician delivered via the Six o’clock News.

Today Manchester doesn’t count its votes till the following morning in a venue far from the Town Hall, and that has taken some of the drama out of waiting for the result, but must be welcomed by those who do the counting.

Chorlton has its firs Labour MP, Keith Bradley, 1987

Leaving me just to reflect that I always found the day after the election a huge anti-climax.  Win or lose the Agent only had to look forward to clearing the committee rooms, reengaging with family and friends and trying to fill the void.

And if the candidate were successful then the Agent also had to come to terms with being out of the spot light. 

Quite rightly everyone now looked to the newly elected candidate and within a few days the name of the Agent was forgotten.

So, while Dave Black will always be remembered as the first Labour Councillor elected for Chorlton Ward in 1986 his agent, Andrew Simpson has faded into obscurity, recorded only on the odd piece of election material to have survived as an imprint at the bottom of a leaflet.

Dave Black canvassing, 1986

But ever was it so.

Pictures; Chorlton has its first Labour MP, Keith Bradley, 1987, courtesy of Manchester Evening News, remaining images, 1946-2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson