Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell

Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell , 1906-63, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he taught economics at the Univ. of London. During World War II he was a civil servant in the new ministry of economic warfare (1940-42) and in the Board of Trade (1942-45). He entered Parliament as a Labour member in 1945 and served as minister of fuel and power (1947-50) and chancellor of the exchequer (1950-51). In 1955 he succeeded Clement Attlee as leader of the Labour party. After Labour's defeat in the 1959 general election, Gaitskell supported some moderation of party policies. At the party conference of 1960 the left wing of the party defeated him on the issue of unilateral nuclear disarmament, which he opposed, but he had recovered his authority in the party by the time of his premature death.

Bibliography: See his diaries (1983); biography by P. Williams (1982).

Gaitskell, Hugh Todd Naylor (1906–63) British statesman, Labour Party leader (1955–63). Gaitskell entered Parliament in 1945, joining the cabinet in 1947. In 1950, he became minister of state for economic affairs and then chancellor of the exchequer (1950–51). In the 1950 leadership elections, he led Labour's right to victory over Aneurin Bevan's challenge. A period of consensus between the two main parties, known as ‘Butskellism’, ensued in British politics. In 1960, Gaitskell refused to accept the conference's decision to adopt a policy of unilateral disarmament and defeated a leadership challenge from his eventual successor Harold Wilson.