Original sentence: It was noted at the time that apart from Owen and Rodgers, and to a lesser extent Maclennan and Mabon, none were front-rank figures in the Labour Party, and most were undistinguished backbenchers in danger of deselection
Edited sentence: A few younger ones such as Mike Thomas and Tom McNally were not escaping factional fights, but were attracted to the party, regardless.Cunningham deliberately waited until he'd been re-selected by his constituency Labour Party before defecting.It was noted at the time that apart from Owen and Rodgers, and to a lesser extent Maclennan and Mabon, none were front-rank figures in the Labour Party, and most were undistinguished backbenchers in danger of deselection, although a couple of the backbenchers were highly visible such as Cunningham and well thought of within the party, but had not been promoted for whatever reason to ministerial status such as Mitchell.Magee defected late as well, though he did not have a fear of deselection.Many of the defectors had ties to one or more members of the Gang of Four, either serving as junior ministers or PPS' under them