The Quiet Campaign

Abstract

The election campaign lacked colour. It was the second in seven months and many people were bored. The weather was bad¹ and meetings were poorly attended. The politicians tried to change their style and to liven up the battle but they received little help from outside events. No international crisis or domestic development provided a peg for party points. A continuing strike at seven Ford plants, a fresh set of EEC statistics, a bomb outrage at Guildford and an eve-of-poll burglary at Liberal headquarters all offered some new material for questions at the parties’ press conferences; but the main basis for argument lay in the words of the politicians themselves.