This set me to thinking about how these lessons used to be learned, particularly in the latter years of the C19th when politicians had to cope with the vastly expanded electorate, following the completion of the project to bring about universal (male) enfranchisement in 1884.
I was remembering the days I spent travelling round local libraries & archives in the Greater Manchester area. Coincidentally the historians who appeared on Start The Week last Monday all stressed the importance & value of visiting the places you are writing about, & I too learned this.
From my vantage seat (usually on a bus) much of that old townscape remained – I also realised that modern bus routes still follow, for the most part, the old routes of stage coach or horse-drawn omnibus.
From the bus you also got a good view of the tops of buildings, which remain pretty much unchanged, whatever might have happened to the street level facades. And so one thing I noticed was how many of those Victorian or Edwardian buildings still proudly proclaimed themselves to be the local Conservative or Liberal Club.
These clubs were a vital way of connecting with potential voters, often more social than overtly political, & if the party dogma was not often taught there it was not unusual for it to be caught over the beer & billiards.
The Times obituarist though that Philip Gould was not above introducing a little two-way instruction inot his focus groups:
Philip Gould’s management of focus groups was interventionist, as he interrupted speakers with his questions, directing them to get to the point, usually his point.Times obituary 8 November 2011
These clubs still played an important social role, regardless of politics, in the 1930s. The highlight of the week for teenagers in my mother’s village was the weekend dance organised by the Conservative Club.
By the time the Second World War was over however the clubs had somehow lost their ability to attract the uncommitted in this way & the parties they hosted were merely for the boringly political kind.
Links
Start the Week: Writing History with Peter Englund, Norman Davies, Boris Johnson and Alison Weir
[pdf]THE CONSERVATIVE EVENING. NEWSPAPER PROJECT IN EDW ARDIAN. MANCHESTER'. Colin Buckley
Conservative & Liberal Clubs
What I learned from Philip Gould
Labour peer Philip Gould has died aged 61
1884 Reform Act
Related post
Architectural thees & thous
