In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, Shuttleworths are lists of people canvassed to be likely to vote for a particular

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in an electoral campaign. "Shuttleworth" was the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

name for the scheme.Caron Lindsay
How did shuttleworths get their name?

Liberal Democrat Voice Liberal Democrat Voice (also known as "Lib Dem Voice") is a political blog, the site claims to be read by over 50,000 individual visitors per month specialising in British Liberal politics. The site was created by Robin Fenwick on Friday 8 Septem ...

, 24 May 2014. Accessed 2 December 2021 The idea was that on Election Day once someone is determined to have voted, they are crossed off the list, thus maintaining an always up-to-date record of voters who have not yet been out to vote. Originally, they were usually printed on multi-sheet

Carbonless copy paper Carbonless copy paper (CCP), non-carbon copy paper, or NCR paper (No Carbon Required, taken from the initials of its creator, National Cash Register) is a type of coated paper designed to transfer information written on the front onto sheets beneat ...

so that successive updated copies for each street can progressively be torn off and given to party election workers as a list of doors to knock on. They were known as Mikardo pads after

Ian Mikardo Ian Mikardo (9 July 1908 – 6 May 1993), commonly known as Mik, was a British Labour Member of Parliament. An ardent socialist and a Zionist, he remained a backbencher throughout his four decades in the House of Commons. He was a member of Nati ...

in the Labour party and as Reading pads in the Conservative party - in both cases because of the original invention, using

carbon paper Carbon paper (originally carbonic paper) consists of sheets of paper which create one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of an original document when inscribed by a typewriter or ballpoint pen. History In 1801, Pellegrino Turri, ...

during the 1945 General Election in the Reading constituency, won by Mikardo. This method is largely superseded by first

EARS An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists o ...

and then VAN software (named Connect in the UK) for the Liberal Democrats,

MERLIN Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and Contact Creator for the Labour Party.

References

Election campaigning {{UK-poli-stub

See also

References