Hugh Gaitskell
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The Right Honourable Hugh Gaitskell CBE |
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Gaitskell in 1958
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| Leader of the Opposition | |
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In office 14 December 1955 – 18 January 1963 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister |
Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan |
| Preceded by | Clement Attlee |
| Succeeded by | George Brown |
| Leader of the Labour Party | |
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In office 14 December 1955 – 18 January 1963 |
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| Deputy |
Jim Griffiths Aneurin Bevan George Brown |
| Preceded by | Clement Attlee |
| Succeeded by | Harold Wilson |
| Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
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In office 26 October 1951 – 14 December 1955 |
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| Leader | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Rab Butler |
| Succeeded by | Harold Wilson |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
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In office 19 October 1950 – 26 October 1951 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Stafford Cripps |
| Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
| Minister of Fuel and Power | |
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In office 24 October 1947 – 15 February 1950 |
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| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Manny Shinwell |
| Succeeded by | Philip Noel-Baker |
| Member of Parliament for Leeds South |
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In office 5 July 1945 – 18 January 1963 |
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| Preceded by | Henry Charleton |
| Succeeded by | Merlyn Rees |
| Majority | 17,431 (65.4%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell 9 April 1906 Kensington, London, England |
| Died | 18 January 1963 (aged 56) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Dora Frost (née Creditor) |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell, CBE, PC (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a politician and Leader of the British Labour Party. An economics lecturer and wartime civil servant, he was elected to Parliament in 1945 and held office in Clement Attlee's governments, notably as Minister of Fuel and Power after the bitter winter of 1946-7, and eventually joining the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Facing the need to increase military spending in 1951 he imposed National Health Service charges on false teeth and spectacles, prompting the leading left-winger Aneurin Bevan to resign from the Cabinet.
The perceived similarity in his outlook to that of his Conservative Party counterpart Rab Butler was dubbed "Butskellism", initially a satirical term, after an elision of their names, and was one aspect of the Post-war consensus through which the major parties largely agreed on the main points of domestic and foreign policy until the 1970s. With Labour in opposition from 1951, Gaitskell won bitter leadership battles with Bevan and his supporters to become the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in 1955. He opposed British military action at Suez in 1956, but against a backdrop of a booming economy led the Labour Party to another election defeat in 1959.
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