[MUSIC PLAYING]
My lords and members of the House of Commons.
By virtue of his Majesty's commission,
under the great seal to us and other lords directed and now
read, we do, in his Majesty's name and in obedience
to His Majesty's commands, prorogue this parliament
to Tuesday, the 3rd day of July 1945 to be them here hold them.
Today at the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor,
after reading the King's speech, announced the dissolution
of parliament.
Great Britain is faced with a new general election.
Britain is divided into 640 parliamentary constituencies.
It is probable that no one of these is exactly typical,
but we must tell our story in terms of one of them.
And so we settled upon the division of Kettering
in the county of Northamptonshire.
The division covers an area of some 130,000 acres
and has a population of 74,000 people.
There are those who work in heavy industries
such as in the manufacture of iron and steel
while others are in the boot and shoe industry.
Some are occupied in agriculture,
while a great number are small traders in towns and villages.
They have a choice of three candidates with three
different political creeds.
One candidate is Councillor John Dempsey, a local figure
who represents an independent doctrine of his own
and is standing as independent Christian.
Mr. G.R. Mitchison, a barrister at law in private life has been
adopted by the Labour Party as their candidate.
The third is Lieutenant Colonel John Profumo
who represented Kettering in the parliament just dissolved
and is standing again as conservative.
Senator of all the division's election activities
is the market town of Kettering itself,
where each candidate has his headquarters and his agent--
the impresario who organises the whole campaign.
It is the agent's job to arrange meetings, book halls,
supervise printing of posters and leaflets,
fix transport, answer queries, and deal with last minute
breakdown of plans.
His first step, before any public meetings begin,
is to arrange for the candidate to address
small local committees of supporters who will be helping
him with the campaign.
And in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen,
I should like to assure Colonel Profumo of very
solid supported candidate.
I will now ask him to address.
[APPLAUSE]
Frederick Robinson, ladies and gentlemen.
This evening, I've come to tell you
something about this general election campaign
and also what I want to ask you to do for me.
I've got three opponents to fight at this election.
The first and most dangerous one is apathy.
And the others are the other two candidates.
Now I want to ask you to deal with the apathy
and leave the other two candidates for me to deal with.
[APPLAUSE]
Meanwhile, the Labour candidate's agent is arranging
committee meetings for his organisers and supporters.
For they're going to help Mr. Mitchison to win his votes.
Now the issues are really nothing less
than the future of this country and whether we can have
a lasting peace in the world.
It matters enormously, this election.
You say you've got to do something too.
You've got to canvas particularly.
So you have to canvas every street and every ward
and every village.
I know it's not going at be easy in that time,
but we've got to get everyone out on polling day.
Mr. Chairman, I would like meetings outside the factories
because that is very important if we
wish to get our message across.
Yes, certainly.
Councillor Dempsey, being an independent candidate
without the resources of a nationwide political party
to back him, has his own daughter to act as his agent.
The first important event in the election is nomination day.
This is the day on which each candidate comes
to see the chief election official--
the returning officer, who in this case is the town clerk.
The nomination day formalities are only a part
of the returning officer's job.
His function carries many responsibilities
and he remains entirely non-party throughout
the whole election proceedings.
Each candidate brings with him his nomination papers
with the names of a proposer, a seconder,
and [INAUDIBLE] senators.
He also has to deposit 150 pounds in currency
to show that he is of good faith in standing for parliament.
If he polls less than 1/8 of the total votes,
he will forfeit this deposit.
During the campaign, the candidate and his agent
work very closely together, meeting at least twice a day
to discuss their plan of action.
Meanwhile, the voluntary workers,
recruited by the agent and his organisers,
get on with the work of addressing envelopes
and sending off circulars, notices of meetings,
and copies of the candidate's election address.
Election addresses are sent to every person entitled
to a vote.
And each candidate is allowed one free postage
for every voter in the constituency.
The election address gives a broad outline
of each candidate's policy and bears his photograph.
So that every man and woman who receives
it will know what the candidate stands for and what he looks
like.
At the time of this election, Britain
had a large number of her voting public in the forces overseas.
As their vote will carry considerable weight
in the final results, copies of each candidate's election
address and the ballot paper to vote on
are dispatched under supervision of the returning
officer to members of the forces all over the world.
So that the soldier in Malta or even the Burma jungle
can vote for his home candidate.
At election time, an extra load is
thrown onto the staff of the postal service which
serves as a link between the candidates
and those members of the public whose business or household
duties prevent them from attending candidates' meetings.
So in this way, Mrs. Green, the busy housewife,
receives her copies of the election addresses.
As part of their visionary policy,
the candidates take an interest in the youth
of their constituency.
Although these youngsters are not yet entitled to vote,
they will be tomorrow's party supporters.
And in the meantime, they want to learn what politics are all
about, ready for when they have a say in the government
of their country.
During the days before polling day, candidates
make personal contact what the voting public
all over the division.
They go out to the men who work on farms and in the fields.
They tell all the workshops of local industry and contact
as many people as they can individually.
But only by getting to know them individually
can the candidate learn the needs, hopes, and fears
of the people he will have to represent
if he wins the election.
He must also gain a full understanding
of their various problems so that he can fight their battles
while at the same time, the opportunity of discussing
both big national issues and more personal problems
man to man helps the individual voter
to gain confidence in him.
In the meantime, the agents rally every possible supporter
to back up the candidate's personal efforts by house
to house canvassing.
Candidates themselves spend their evenings
addressing meetings in towns and villages all over the division.
People are becoming addled by party slogans
and by catchphrases which are being talked of on the radio
and mentioned in all the newspapers.
I believe in being governed, but not
in being spoonfed and kicked and petted and cursed and praised
and directed and fined and licenced and exalted
all the time.
So if it's houses you're after, I doubt promise of tomorrow.
No one can do that.
But far the quickest way you will get them.
Well beyond the lines I'd been talking about just now.
And they come first and foremost in the Labour programme.
I know I'm not claiming that I'm superior because I'm standing
as a Christian candidate.
I say I need Christianity so badly and Jesus Christ myself
and I know all you do.
And I know the world do.
Mr. Dempsey, don't you think there is good a Christian
in the Labour movement as you are yourself?
Possibly, but when Mr. Lansbury was turned down at the Labour
conference, I forget the year, as a one and only Christian
[INAUDIBLE] got into the wrong party.
Hi.
Good morning Ms. Watts.
You get it all straight lines.
Well how do you get on the curvy last night?
Excellent.
Very pleased indeed.
The issue about nationalisation is growing,
but this is where a lot of personal support.
How many meetings have we got tonight?
Five.
Clipping, that's a lot.
Where are they?
[INAUDIBLE] 6:30, first meeting.
And don't be late.
I'll be there.
Ladies and gentlemen of Lamport, here
comes the National Conservative candidate, Colonel John
Profumo.
Here he comes into the field.
Now, Lamport, don't forget, this is your candidate and, we hope,
your future member.
Here he comes.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Every day between now and polling day on July the 5th,
I'm coming around the villages of my constituency in order
that I may take my political views to the men
and women whom I know are very busy in
their ordinary, everyday jobs.
I am standing, once again, as a conservative candidate
in support of the formation of a national government.
The press plays a very important part in the campaign.
During election time, the local newspaper
sends out reporters to get interviews
with all the candidates.
Through the press, are great people
can be reached who may not be able to get to meetings.
In a town like Kettering, which has only one daily newspaper,
editorial policy aims at being politically impartial,
and endeavours to give completely unbiased
presentation of election news.
In England, the freedom of the press holds good.
There is no question of censorship or interference
from outside.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Polling day draws near, and the wheels
of the electioneering machinery turn faster as everyone
concerned throws more and more effort into the campaign.
Everything possible is done by each candidate
to catch the eyes and ears of the voting public.
It is a struggle to attract, to impress, above all to convince
that here is the man against whose name they must put across
on polling day.
But the British public are individuals.
They watch and listen, but they think for themselves.
Already, everyone is talking politics,
and almost everyone is taking part in the campaign.
Windows of supporters become display mediums
for their candidates, trees become billboards,
and the ordinary business of the day is coloured with
discussions on political viewpoints.
In fact, every thinking person in the British Isles
looks on his country's problems as his own responsibility,
and, of course, he tells his friends what he would
do if he were prime minister.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At last, it is polling day.
Mrs. Green has done a lot of thinking in the last few weeks,
and now her mind is made up.
Inside the polling station, she gives her name
to the polling clerk who checks it off the voters register.
This contains the name and address
of every person in the constituency who
is entitled to a vote, and is a safeguard against any person
trying to vote more than once.
The presiding officer issues the ballot paper bearing the names
of the three candidates.
The ballot paper is stamped with a special seal,
the design of which is secret until polling day,
preventing anyone printing a few extra ballot
papers on their own.
Mrs. Green takes the ballot paper
into a screened partition where, free from observation,
she puts a cross against the name of her selected candidate.
The folded ballot paper is then put into the ballot box
in front of the presiding officer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
On polling day, candidates make a tour of the constituency.
There are polling booths all over the division,
and the final visit by the candidate
to rally his supporters can mean a few extra votes,
which may be, for him, the deciding factor.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
9:00 PM, the limit of the extension to polling hours.
The voting, which has gone on since 8 o'clock in the morning,
must now stop.
The people have had their last chance to vote,
and the doors are locked.
The ballot boxes containing the country's verdict
are sealed up until the day of the count.
[BELL TOLLS]
From each polling station in the division,
the sealed ballot boxes are transported,
under careful supervision, to the main police
station in Kettering where they are stored
in cells for safekeeping.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Meanwhile, the forces overseas have received their election
addresses and ballot papers.
Rightly concerned about the kind of government
they think will do most for their country
in the difficult years that lie ahead,
they have their voice in the matter.
They have their vote.
Normally, the count takes place the day after polling day,
but in this election it is held up
until the forces' ballot papers have been flown back
from the various fronts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
On the day of the count, the seals on the ballot boxes
are broken.
The boxes are unlocked and the ballot papers are tipped out
onto long tables for counting.
The count takes place in the main hall
of a large school in Kettering, central town of the division.
The clerks who do this job are civil servants
who have been released from their ordinary work
and are paid especially for their services on this day.
But the watchers who stand behind them
are voluntary members of the general public.
Each candidate may appoint 20 of these voluntary scrutineers
to see that the counting is correctly carried out.
The votes for each candidate are counted into blocks of 50.
The blocks are then carried to tables
where each candidate's votes are laid out,
ready for the final count.
Meanwhile, outside the building, the crowds
are gathering, eager to hear the result.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Before the final figures are announced,
the returning officer checks the badly recorded votes
with the candidates, who mutually
agree which shall be counted and which shall be declared void.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, I have to announce
the result of the poll for the Kettering division
for the Parliamentary County of Northampton
with the Silk of Peterborough.
The voting is as follows.
John Chamberlain Dempsey 2,381 votes.
Gilbert Richard Murchison, 29,868 votes.
And John Dennis Profumo 23,424 votes.
And I therefore declare Gilbert Richard Murchison
the duly elected member of Parliament
for the Kettering division.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
It's my very great pleasure to move a vote of thanks
to Mr. Cheston and his staff.
But before I come to that, I want, first of all,
to say one or two other words.
First--
Well, it may not be what everybody wanted,
but it's what the majority want.
And the man who has won the most votes
will represent the division of Kettering
in the new Parliament.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Very soon, the new member for Kettering
enters the House of Commons for the first time,
when he goes to take the oath before the Speaker.
And from that day, he becomes a paid member of the legislature.
Finally, the King opens the new Parliament,
and Britain settles down to solve her current problems
under the leadership of a new government chosen freely
by her people.
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