Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

== Wartime civil servant and election to Parliament ==
During the [[Second World War]], from the formation of Churchill's coalition government in May 1940 Gaitskell worked with Noel Hall and [[Hugh Dalton]] as a senior civil servant for the [[Minister of Economic Warfare|Ministry of Economic Warfare]], giving him experience of government.<ref name="Saville_1980" /> As Dalton's Private Secretary Gaitskell was more of a ''[[Chef de Cabinet]]'' and trusted adviser. Observers watched Gaitskell blossom and enjoy exercising power. Dalton liked to shout at his subordinates; Gaitskell sometimes shouted back.<ref>Williams 1985, pp98-9</ref> Along with Dalton, Gaitskell was moved to the [[Board of Trade]] in February 1942, where for the first time he came into contact with the leaders of the miners' unions, who were later to support him in his struggles against [[Aneurin Bevan]] in the 1950s.<ref name="Matthew 2004, p.288">Matthew 2004, p.288</ref> For his service, he was appointed [[Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1945.

In March 1945 Gaitskell suffered a [[coronary thrombosis]] brought on by overwork. Advised to rest, he considered withdrawing from his parliamentary candidacy in [[Leeds]], but he was popular with his constituency workers and they offered to campaign for him even if he was unable to do so.<ref>Williams 1985, p124-5</ref> He was also approached to return to UCL as a Professor after the war, but he disliked the constant state of flux of academic economics and the increasing emphasis on mathematics, a subject of which he had little knowledge. By now he found himself more drawn to public life.<ref>Williams 1985, p81</ref>

Gaitskell was elected Labour [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds South]] in the Labour landslide victory of [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]].<ref name="Matthew 2004, p.288" /> Despite his illness, as a protégé of Dalton he was seriously considered for immediate appointment as a junior minister, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the [[Board of Trade]] (under [[Stafford Cripps]]).<ref>Williams 1985, p130</ref> This would have been a rare honour since 263 of the 393 Labour MPs in 1945 were newly elected, but it did not take place.<ref>Dell 1997, p.15 Harold Wilson, another newly elected economics don and wartime civil servant, was appointed a junior minister immediately</ref>

As a backbencher he spoke in debates in support of Dalton's [[Bank of England Act 1946|nationalisation]] of the [[Bank of England]], which eventually received Royal Assent on 14 February 1946. Dalton was trying to score party points by claiming that he was reasserting political control over the [[City of London]], a far-fetched claim as the Bank was already under political control. Although some Conservative MPs spoke against the measure it was not opposed by Churchill, then Leader of the Opposition, who had had an ambivalent view of the Bank since his own time as chancellor in the 1920s.<ref>Dell 1997, p.77</ref>