Hugh Gaitskell
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| Rt. Hon. Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell | |
| Image:Hugh Gaitskell.jpg <small/> | |
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| In office 19 October 1950 – 26 October 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Stafford Cripps |
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| Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
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| Born | April 9, 1906 London, England |
| Died | January 18, 1963 London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 – January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in London, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he gained a first class degree in PPE in 1927. He first became interested in politics as a result of the General Strike of 1926, and lectured in economics for the Workers' Educational Association to miners in Nottinghamshire. In the 1930s he was an academic at University College London, where he headed the Department of Political Economy. He also worked as a tutor at Birkbeck College. <ref> (2002) Birkbeck, University of London Continuing Education Courses 2002 Entry. Birkbeck External Relations Department, 5.</ref>
Gaitskell witnessed firsthand in Vienna the political suppression of the Marxist-oriented social democratic workers movement by the conservative Englebert Dolfuss's government. The event made a lasting impression, making him profoundly hostile to conservatism but also making him reject as futile the Marxian outlook of many continental social democrats. This placed him in the socialist revisionist camp.
[edit] Member of Parliament
He became Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South in 1945, quickly rose through the ministerial ranks, and was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of 1950. It was at this time that he fell out with Aneurin Bevan over the introduction of charges into the National Health Service. He later defeated Bevan in the party leadership contest after the resignation of Clement Attlee in 1955.
Gaitskell's election as leader coincided with one of the Labour Party's weakest periods, and he is regarded by some as "the best Prime Minister we never had".[1]
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, in possibly one of the highlights of his career as leader, Gaitskell passionately condemned the intervention initiated by the prime minister,Anthony Eden.
The Labour Party had widely expected to win the 1959 general election, but did not. Gaitskell was undermined during it by public doubts concerning the credibility of proposals to raise pensions and by a highly effective Conservative campaign run by Harold Macmillan under the slogan "Life is better with the Conservatives, don't let Labour ruin it".
Gaitskell was an early moderniser, trying (unsuccessfully) to amend Labour's Clause IV -- which committed the party to massive nationalisation of industry. He also, successfully, resisted attempts to commit Labour to a unilateralist position on nuclear weapons – losing the vote one year and then declaring he would "fight, fight and fight again to save the party I love".
Battles inside the party produced the Campaign for Democratic Socialism to defend the Gaitskellite position in the early 1960s. Many of the younger CDS members were founding members of the SDP in 1981. Gaitskell alienated some of his supporters by his opposition to British membership in the European Economic Community. In a speech to the party conference in October 1962 Gaitskell claimed that EEC membership would mean "the end of Britain as an independent European state. I make no apology for repeating it. It means the end of a thousand years of history".
[edit] Death in 1963
He died after a sudden attack of Lupus erythematosus in 1963, and left an opening for Harold Wilson in the party leadership. The abrupt and unexpected nature of his death led to speculation that foul play was involved, the most popular conspiracy theory involving a KGB plot to ensure that Wilson (supposedly a KGB agent himself) became prime minister. This claim was given new life by Peter Wright's controversial 1987 book Spycatcher, but the only evidence that has ever come to light is the testimony of Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn.
[edit] Legacy
Because his misfortune in never becoming prime minister, and the great capacity many considered that he had for the post, Hugh Gaitskell is remembered largely with respect from people both within and without the Labour Party. He is still regarded with affection even among Labour's left-wing, including Tony Benn, who in particular contrast his stand on the Suez Crisis to that of the present British prime minister, Tony Blair, on the war in Iraq.
[edit] Marriage
He was married to Anna Dora Gaitskell, who became a Labour life peer one year after his death, but it is widely known that he had a number of affairs - even during his time in public life - and that his reputation would never have survived the media scrutiny of today.
[edit] Trivia
'Hugh Gaitskell House' is the building Nicholas Lyndhurst's character Garry Sparrow is looking for in Goodnight Sweetheart when he first stumbles into World War II London.
[edit] References
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[edit] Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Henry Charles Charleton | Member of Parliament for Leeds South 1945–1963 | Succeeded by: Merlyn Rees |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by: Sir Stafford Cripps | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1950–1951 | Succeeded by: Rab Butler |
| Preceded by: Clement Attlee | Leader of the British Labour Party 1955–1963 | Succeeded by: Harold Wilson |
| Leader of the Opposition 1955–1963 | ||
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Categories: 1906 births | 1963 deaths | Chancellors of the Exchequer | Leaders of the British Labour Party | Old Dragons | Old Wykehamists | Former students of New College, Oxford | University College London academics | Academics of Birkbeck, University of London | Labour MPs (UK) | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
