1945: The General Election, held less than two months after VE-Day, resulted in a defeat of Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party. It was nicknamed the ‘Khaki Election’ because it was widely believed that it was the servicemen’s vote that brought about the unexpected victory for Labour under Clement Atlee. Elected for the constituency of Cardiff South was a young James Callaghan, who was to go on to have a most distinguished political career, culminating in serving as Prime Minister from 1976 until his defeat by Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 Election. In 1945 Callaghan defeated the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Arthur Evans, by 17,489 votes to 11,545. He had campaigned for the rapid demobilisation of servicemen and an ambitious programme of house building. One the hopefuls Callaghan defeated for selection as candidate was George Thomas (later Lord Tonypandy, the former Speaker of the House of Commons) who stood instead for the Cardiff Central seat. (Dictionary of National Biography, OUP)