the National Union of Mineworkers on 29 August. Three further nominees were identified the following day: Dengar Evans (a 49-year-old chemist from Trethomas), Thomas Williams (barrister and former Member of Parliament for Hammersmith South and Barons Court) and George Viner (a journalist from Cardiff). Dr Kamalakant G. Pendse, president of the Socialist Medical Association for South Wales, was the ninth candidate to be nominated, and two more had appeared by the time nominations closed on 5 September: Glyn Lewis, a steelworkers' union official, and Denis Howell, former MP for Birmingham All Saints. A shortlist of five was agreed by the Executive Committee of Ebbw Vale Divisional Labour Party on 8 September: Fred Evans (a headmaster and President of Caerphilly Labour Party), Ron Evans, Gordon Parry, Dr K. G. Pendse, and Thomas Williams. The absence of both Michael Foot and Frank Whatley caused an uproar both among Foot's supporters and the miners who were supporting Whatley, and their supporters checked the rule books to see how the shortlist could be changed. At a meeting of the General Management Committee of the local party on 17 September, there was a motion of no confidence in the Executive; the party chairman Ivor Parton suggested a simpler way out which was to add both Foot and Whatley to the shortlist as proposed. His suggestion was accepted unanimously. The selection contest followed on 25 September; Foot lead clearly from the first ballot: Thomas Williams, Fred Evans and Dr Pendse were eliminated. On the second ballot Whatley was bottom and was eliminated; the miners, without their own candidate, did not unite around any single one of the remaining candidates. On the third ballot the result was: The announcement of Foot's selection victory was greeted by the singing of "The Red Flag". Immediately after the result, Ron Evans congratulated Foot on his victory and offered to act as Foot's agent just as he had for Bevan; the offer was accepted. Foot's biographer notes that Evans remained Foot's strongest supporter in the constituency until his death. Conservatives The Conservative Party confirmed very early on that it would definitely field a candidate. Five names were submitted to the Ebbw Vale Conservative Association for interview in the first week of September: Anthony Arnold (aged 31) had fought two previous Parliamentary elections and worked in the insurance industry; Humphrey Crum Ewing (aged 36) was a company secretary who had fought Swansea