contested Sunderland. She was meanwhile moving away from her previous strict pacifism towards a more active anti-fascism. Her book, "What I Saw in Spain" [Victor Gollancz, London, 1935], followed her visit to the country in the wake of the Asturias uprising late the prior year. Manning visited the Model Prison in Madrid and interviewed opponents of the Lerroux Government that had admitted three fascists to Cabinet, the said spark of the uprising. At the 1936 Labour Party Conference, several party members, including Ellen Wilkinson, Stafford Cripps, Aneurin Bevan and Charles Trevelyan, argued that military help should be given to the Popular Front of Spain, which fought Francisco Franco and his fascist Nationalist Army. Despite a passionate appeal from Isabel de Palencia, the Labour Party supported the Conservative Government's policy of non-intervention. Manning disagreed with the official line and became Secretary of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. In the spring of 1937, she helped to arrange the evacuation of almost 4,000 Basque children to Britain as well as around 200 adults, accompanying the children on the SS Habana. While there she witnessed the bombing of Guernica. In 1938, Manning returned to Spain, where she wrote a report on the hospitals where British doctors and nurses were working. Back in England, she continued to be involved with the Basque children, visiting them and highlighting their plight. Manning was selected as Labour candidate for Epping and won the seat in the 1945 general election. On entering the House of Commons, she would hang her coat on the 'men's' hooks as part of her campaign against discrimination in the House that she began when she first entered in 1930. On 9th March 1946, International Women's Day, Manning chaired an international conference at Beaver Hall in London. In Parliament, she was known for her commitment to education and urging housing provision. She edited a Labour Party pamphlet, Growing up - Labour's Plan for Women and Children detailing plans and party policies for women and children. She also spoke up for a Family Planning Service as part of the newly-created NHS. Defeated in the 1950 general election, she unsuccessfully contested Epping again in 1951 and 1955. Harlow New Town A key highlight in Manning's political career was her involvement in Harlow New Town as it interested her and her constituents in nearby Epping. Manning served on the Commons Committee considering the 1946 New Towns Bill which