 Labour selected as its candidate the former leader of the Miners Federation of Great Britain, Robert Smillie, a founder of the Independent Labour Party who had stood unsuccessfully at many previous parliamentary elections.Smillie's selection placed many Northumberland Miners in a strange position as they had been used to having local miners candidates to elect to represent them in Cairns and his predecessor, the Liberal Thomas Burt.Smillie on the other hand, was a Scotsman with no links to the local community.