Nigel Hunt was a canvasser for the Labour candidate for the seat of Weatherfield in the 1964 general election. Along with the other parties, he canvassed the residents of Coronation Street, putting leaflets through their doors and calling to their houses in person. One residence was No.5 where the poshly-spoken Hunt offered to chat to Minnie Caldwell about any of their policies and suggested that foreign affairs be the first option, prompting a blank look from her. She did have one idea though, and knowing that Ena Sharples wanted to talk to all three candidates, took him across to the street to the vestry, throwing him on the way when she told him that in the last election she displayed the posters of all three candidates in her window.
Minnie introduced him to her friend as someone who had been sent by Harold Wilson to see her. Ena quickly latched on to his posh tones and gained an uncomfortable admission from him that although his father had been a collier, he had been educated at Winchester School and the London School of Economics commenting tartly that his presence that he was probably causing Beatrice Webb to spin in her grave. Getting a promise that a car would take her to the polling station, and unwilling to talk to him at that moment, she insisted he return at 8.00pm.
She made similar arrangements with the Conservative canvasser Fred Marsh (who she was surprised to find was a local lad, born and bred in Victoria Street) and Miss Stafford from the Liberal agent's office. All three turned up within a moment of each other and were equally surprised to see the others there. Ena announced she was off to the Rovers Return Inn and was leaving them to "argue, insult one another and set the world to rights" between the three of them and she would be voting for the first one to put £2 on the old age pension. She then left, singing Land of Hope and Glory and chuckling to herself as she walked down the street.
- This was a rare storyline involving national politics since the 1964 general election was the first one held since the programme began and the production team felt it couldn't be ignored. The storylining decision to show Ena's contempt for the canvassers and the political system was illustrated in a statement later made by H.V. Kershaw in his 1981 autobiography that, "knowing how difficult it is to please everybody the only alternative is to displease everybody and this we did", thus showing scrupulous impartiality in the process.