Hugh Gaitskell

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Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (born April 9, 1906 in London , † January 18, 1963 there ) was a British politician. He was Labor Party leader from 1955 until his death in 1963.

He studied at Winchester College and at New College of Oxford University , where he obtained his degree in the combined study of philosophy, politics and economics 1927th In 1933/1934 he was visiting professor at the University of Vienna , where he came into contact with Ludwig von Mises, among others . Gaitskell also witnessed the February struggles and the beginnings of the corporate state , which made him a staunch supporter of parliamentary democracy and a reformist social democrat .

During the Second World War Gaitskell worked, among other things, in the Ministry of Economic Warfare under Hugh Dalton as private secretary. In 1945 he was awarded the CBE for his service during the war . In the general election in 1945 , which resulted in a clear Labor election victory, he moved as a member of parliament for the constituency of Leeds South and then served as personal assistant to Dalton, who was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer . From 1947 Gaitskell Energy Minister ( Minister of Fuel and Power ), 1950, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in succession Stafford Cripps ' and served as such until the return of the Conservatives was to the government in 1951. Party chairman he 1955 after the resignation of Clement Attlee in a fight candidacy against Aneurin Bevan . He is considered by some to be "the best prime minister we've never had".

An election victory for the Labor Party was expected in 1959, but doubts about the feasibility of pension increases and a very successful election campaign by Harold Macmillan under the slogan "Life with the Conservatives is better, don't let Labor destroy you" led to Conservative success. Gaitskell was an early modernizer of his party, but he tried unsuccessfully to change Section IV of the party program, which provided for extensive nationalizations . In contrast, he successfully resisted attempts to commit Labor to a unilateral position on nuclear weapons issues; he initially lost one vote, but declared: "I will fight, fight and fight again to save the party I love."

Gaitskell died of a sudden onset of the autoimmune disease lupus erythematosus . Harold Wilson, a representative of the left wing, was elected to succeed him.

After his death, his wife Dora Gaitskell was raised to the nobility in 1964 as Baroness Gaitskell, of Egremont in the County of Cumberland and was a member of the House of Lords as a Life Peeress until her death in 1989 .

Web links

Commons : Hugh Gaitskell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hugh Gaitskell at Hansard (English)
• Newspaper article about Hugh Gaitskell in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .