ABSTRACT
In chapter 1 we traced the development of election campaigning in Britain over the past 130 years or so, arguing that in the twentieth century the focus of the parties (and of what might be termed the 'attentive public') has increasingly switched to the national level, with a corresponding decline in the attention given to constituency campaigns. We suggested that one of the most important reasons for this was the emergence of mass media of communication — mass circulation newspapers, radio and, most importantly of all, television. Summarising very briefly, we argued that the development of mass media, and the particular form that they took in the British context, gave vastly increased powers of communication to central party organisations and that this, coming just as other changes were working in the same direction, led to a new form of campaigning focused on the national level and directed from the centre, which effectively swamped local efforts. As commentators never tire of telling us, general elections nowadays are fought via the mass media.
