The Election Agent

The agent's big day

Now for a new series, in which Shaun Ley finds out what really goes on behind the scenes of an election campaign.

In this first part of The Election Agent, he gets exclusive access to an election count and hears what messages voters really send their politicians.

In part two, he hears how in the glory years of the profession, all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas were used to grab the attention of voters - and keep one step ahead of opponents. Tonight - how a tractor load of manure stopped Labour activists disrupting a Conservative rally and a pink Cadillac affected an election in Norwich.

In the third part, Shaun hears from one agent who was confronted by a gang of armed robbers. But he also discovers that some agents regret that they've been less than successful at defending their territory from those in their own party headquarters who want to run elections from the centre.