Gaitskell, Hugh

Gaitskell, Hugh (1906–63). As Labour party leader, Gaitskell exercised a more enduring impact on British politics than might be supposed from his brief ministerial career. After Winchester and Oxford, Gaitskell spent eleven years as an academic before taking up a wartime civil service post at the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Enjoying the patronage of Hugh Dalton, he displayed intellectual penetration and transparent sincerity.

Elected to Parliament in 1945, Gaitskell was among the most impressive of Labour's new intake. Conspicuous success at the Ministry of Fuel and Power ensured rapid promotion and he became minister of state at the Treasury after the 1950 general election. The combined strain imposed by post-war reconstruction, the development of the welfare state, and the outbreak of the Korean War made this a difficult time to assume responsibility for the national finances. Yet Gaitskell was fortunate in the timing of his ministerial ascent. Many of the leading figures in the cabinet had been continuously in office for a decade. Some were now ageing, ill, or exhausted. Gaitskell, by contrast, seemed to be the coming man of Labour politics. When illness forced the resignation of Stafford Cripps in October 1950, the 44-year-old Gaitskell was an obvious successor as chancellor.

His only budget in 1951 proved to be controversial to a degree which its provisions scarcely justified. His decision to introduce limited Health Service charges prompted the resignations of Aneurin Bevan, Harold Wilson, and John Freeman. In Bevan's case thwarted ambition probably played its part. But the resignations gave notice that a right–left split would emerge once the constraints of office were removed. This happened after October 1951. But Gaitskell consolidated his power base when elected party treasurer in 1954, showing the strength of his following in the trade unions. Attlee finally retired from the leadership in December 1955 and, to the surprise of many, Gaitskell easily defeated Bevan and Herbert Morrison for the succession.

His first years as leader were relatively uneventful. He even succeeded in effecting a reconciliation with Bevan. Gaitskell performed effectively in Parliament over the Suez crisis and confirmed his hold over the party. With the Conservatives badly shaken by Suez, Labour approached the election of 1959 with confidence. If for no other reason, pundits believed that the ‘natural swing of the pendulum’ would bring them back to power.

The result—a third successive Conservative victory and a substantially increased majority—was a considerable personal blow. With analysts wondering whether Labour was now doomed to permanent opposition, Gaitskell determined to modernize the party to accommodate the aspirations of middle-class voters. To traditionalists, however, this threatened the removal of all socialist content from the party's ideology. Such opposition led to Gaitskell's defeat in 1960 over his attempt to remove clause 4 from the party's constitution. But he restored his authority a year later, resisting the left's attempts to commit Labour to unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Gaitskell died suddenly in 1963, having done much to re-establish Labour as a credible party of government—an achievement which benefited Harold Wilson in October 1964. Whether he would have proved as adroit a party leader in power as Wilson remains an open question. His association with the right seemed to preclude anything like Wilson's capacity to paper over the fundamental divisions in the Labour movement. By the time of his death, Gaitskell could count on a band of devoted followers determined to modernize the party. Many of these had been disappointed by his decision in 1962 to oppose British membership of the Common Market. Even so, the Gaitskellites ensured that Gaitskell's influence survived his death. It is possible to see in this movement some of the origins of the Social Democratic Party of the 1980s. Many still regard Gaitskell as the lost leader of the Labour Party.

David Dutton

Bibliography

Brivati, B. , Hugh Gaitskell (1996).