188 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

the meeting on this task. Questioners may be simply seeking
for information^ or, particularly at open-air meetings, they may
heckle—that is, put que$tions which they hope will extract
some damaging admission: or expose the candidate's ignorance.
Heckling is a legitimate .practice and an exacting test; the
candidate who knows his case need not fear it; on the contrary
he will welcome it since a good answer wins the sympathy of the
audience. The questioning can degenerate into rowdyism; the
questioner may shout one question after another without waiting
for an answer; there may even be deliberate attempts by groups in
the meeting to shout the speaker down and end the meeting in
violence. In some districts there is an evil tradition of disorder,
but an able candidate will not usually have much difficulty. If,
however, he has an arrogant manner; if he gives the audience
to suppose that he despises them; above all, if he is reluctant to
answer questions, he will soon turn the most placid assembly
into an indignant and vociferous crowd.

But, with all this effort, only a small proportion of the
electorate will be reached; in very many constituencies less than
a tenth of the people go to meetings. Election workers are
agreed that contests are won or lost "on the doorstep". From
the beginning of the campaign the candidate's supporters go up
and down the streets, from house to house, asking the voters
where their sympathies lie. Little time is spent trying to convert
opponents; that must rather be done between elections. The
election canvasser's duty is to locate the supporters of his party.
If some voters are doubtful, the canvasser will make a few points
briefly, and leave a leaflet; if some have special points on which
they wish to be reassured, a note will be made and the candidate
himself will call. Canvassing, like much political work, is
exhausting, and,, despite a few amusing encounters, monotonous;
but it is a valuable factor in the preservation of a healthy political
life. The sensible candidate or party worker, who keeps his ears
and his mind open, learns from canvassing, as from no other source,
the wishes of the people. He will not, as a rule, be asked to state