they predicted, get no more than 1,000 votes. Within a few days of the deselection meeting, Wilson called a snap general election, which gave the Merthyr party little time to find their new candidate. They chose Tal Lloyd, an Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) official, a long-serving councillor and a former mayor, on the moderate wing of the Labour Party, and a strong supporter of Wilson. With no party organisation and only his own financial resources, Davies's campaign was, initially, very low-key. His election literature was a single sheet with the message "You Know Me, I've Never Let You Down". As polling day approached, however, it was clear that he was gathering support, particularly among the young—a great irony, Alun Morgan observes, for a man sacked on the grounds of his age. In the final week before polling day on 18 June, Davies's youthful supporters toured the constituency with songs, slogans and cheerleaders in what Griffiths describes as "the most colourful election bandwaggon seen in Merthyr for 40 years". The official Labour campaign stalled, as Lloyd became embroiled in a row over his role in the failure of the AEU to support an unofficial strike at the local Hoover factory. On polling day, amid scenes of jubilation, Davies was returned with a majority of 7,467 over Lloyd. Davies responded to his victory by thanking the voters whom, he said, he had never thought for a moment would let him down. Two weeks later, Davies and his principal campaign workers were expelled from the Labour Party for opposing its official candidate. The national leadership refused his request for an official inquiry into the actions of the Merthyr party, in the selection process and during the election itself. Final years and death Despite his expulsion, in July 1970 the Labour-controlled Merthyr council offered Davies the freedom of the borough, an honour which he politely declined; the confidence of the people recently shown him was, he said, enough. He resumed his place in parliament, on the opposition benches, as Labour had unexpectedly lost the election to Edward Heath's Conservatives. Despite some ill-feeling, Davies was not ostracised by his erstwhile colleagues, and was unofficially briefed by the party. He limited his Commons appearances and rarely spoke in debates, generally preferring to serve his constituents from home. On the major national issue of the 1970–74 parliament—Heath's renewed bid for Britain's membership of the European Economic Community