Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

{{Short description|British politician (1906&ndash;1963)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
| image               = Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell.jpg
| caption             = Gaitskell in 1961
| office              = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| term_start          = 14 December 1955
| term_end            = 18 January 1963
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| primeminister       = {{ubl|[[Anthony Eden]] | [[Harold Macmillan]]}}
| predecessor         = [[Herbert Morrison]]
| successor           = [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]]
| office1             = [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]]
| term_start1         = 14 December 1955
| term_end1           = 18 January 1963
| deputy1             = {{ubl|[[Jim Griffiths]]|[[Aneurin Bevan]]|George Brown}}
| predecessor1        = [[Clement Attlee]]
| successor1          = [[Harold Wilson]]
| office2             = [[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| term_start2         = 26 October 1951
| term_end2           = 14 December 1955
| leader2             = Clement Attlee
| predecessor2        = [[Rab Butler]]
| successor2          = Harold Wilson
| office3             = [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| term_start3         = 19 October 1950
| term_end3           = 26 October 1951
| primeminister3      = Clement Attlee
| predecessor3        = [[Stafford Cripps]]
| successor3          = Rab Butler
| office4             = [[Minister of Fuel and Power]]
| term_start4         = 24 October 1947
| term_end4           = 15 February 1950
| primeminister4      = Clement Attlee
| predecessor4        = [[Manny Shinwell]]
| successor4          = [[Philip Noel-Baker]]
| parliament5         = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP5    = [[Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds South]]
| term_start5         = 5 July 1945
| term_end5           = 18 January 1963
| predecessor5        = [[Henry Charleton]]
| successor5          = [[Merlyn Rees]]
| birth_name          = Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1906|4|9|df=y}}
| birth_place         = London, England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1963|1|18|1906|4|9|df=y}}
| death_place         = London, England
| resting_place       = [[St John-at-Hampstead]], London
| spouse              = {{Marriage|[[Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell|Anna Dora Creditor]]|1937}}
| nationality         = British
| party               = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]
| alma_mater          = [[New College, Oxford]]
| children            = 2
}}

'''Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who was [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] and [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] from 1955 until his death in 1963. An economics lecturer and wartime [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil servant]], he was elected to Parliament in [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]] and held office in [[Clement Attlee]]'s governments, notably as [[Minister of Fuel and Power]] following the [[Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom|bitter winter of 1946–47]], and eventually joining the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]. Facing the need to increase military spending in 1951, he imposed [[National Health Service]] charges on dentures and spectacles, prompting the leading [[left-wing politics|left-winger]] [[Aneurin Bevan]] to resign from the Cabinet.

The perceived similarity in his outlook to that of his [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] counterpart [[Rab Butler]] was dubbed "Butskellism", initially a satirical term blending 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.<ref name="Richard Heffernan 2000 p 301">Brian Brivati and Richard Heffernan, eds. ''The Labour Party: a centenary history'' (Macmillan, 2000) p 301.</ref><ref>Neil Rollings, "'Poor Mr Butskell: A Short Life, Wrecked by Schizophrenia'?." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 5#2 (1994): 183-205.</ref> With Labour in opposition from [[1951 United Kingdom general election|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 Labour Party leadership election|1955]]. In 1956 he opposed the Eden government's use of military force at [[Suez Crisis|Suez]]. Against a backdrop of a booming economy he led Labour to its third successive defeat at the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 general election]].

In the late 1950s, in the teeth of opposition from the major [[trade union]]s, he attempted in vain to remove [[Clause IV]] of the Labour Party Constitution, which committed Labour to [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] of all the means of production. He did not reject public ownership altogether, but also emphasised the ethical goals of liberty, social welfare and above all equality, and argued that they could be achieved by fiscal and social policies within a [[mixed economy]]. His revisionist views, on the right wing of the Labour Party, were sometimes called [[Gaitskellism]].

Despite this setback, Gaitskell reversed an attempt to adopt [[Nuclear disarmament|unilateral nuclear disarmament]] as Labour Party policy, and opposed Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]]'s attempt to lead the UK into the [[European Economic Community|European Common Market]]. He died suddenly in 1963, when he appeared to be on the verge of leading Labour back into power and becoming the next prime minister.