ABSTRACT
In chapters 3 and 4 we have focused upon what happens 'on the ground' in general elections. We have described how the parties' constituency organisations prepare for and conduct their campaigns, almost all of the people involved being locally based volunteer workers. But what happens on the ground is influenced by the wider party organisation. Constituency parties and associations are part of a national organisational structure staffed by full-time, professional organisers. When national party organisations first emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century their main purpose was to help to win elections in the constituencies, and this remains a central rationale for their existence. In this chapter, therefore, we explore the role of the national headquarters and regional offices of the parties in constituency campaigning.
