1960 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

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1960 Labour Party leadership election
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  GaitskellMP.jpg Harold Wilson (1967).jpg
Candidate Hugh Gaitskell Harold Wilson
Popular vote16681
Percentage67.2%32.8%
Leader before election

Hugh Gaitskell

Elected Leader

Hugh Gaitskell

The 1960 Labour Party leadership election was held when, for the first time since 1935, the incumbent leader Hugh Gaitskell was challenged for re-election. Normally the annual re-election of the leader had been a formality. Gaitskell had lost the 1959 general election and had seen the Labour Party conference adopt a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament which he considered disastrous and refused to support. A vacancy in the deputy leadership was first made by the death of incumbent Aneurin Bevan.

Hugh Gaitskell British politician and leader of the opposition

Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell was a British politician and Leader of the 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 1946–47, 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 dentures and spectacles, prompting the leading left-winger Aneurin Bevan to resign from the Cabinet.

1959 United Kingdom general election

The 1959 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 October 1959. It marked a third consecutive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, now led by Harold Macmillan. For the second time in a row, the Conservatives increased their overall majority in Parliament, to 101 seats over the Labour Party led by Hugh Gaitskell. The Liberal Party led by Jo Grimond again returned only six MPs to the House of Commons, but managed to increase their overall share of the vote to 5.9%; compared to just 2.7% four years earlier. To date, the 1959 general election marks the only occasion since the Second World War when a government has managed to increase its overall majority while seeking a third term in government. However, despite this electoral success; the Conservatives failed to win the most seats in Scotland, and have not done so since. This election marks the beginning of Labour's domination of Scottish seats at Westminster, which lasted until the rise of the Scottish National Party at the 2015 general election. Both future Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe and future Conservative Party leader and eventual Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher first entered the House of Commons at this election.

Aneurin Bevan Welsh politician

Aneurin Bevan, often known as Nye Bevan, was a Welsh Labour Party politician who was the Minister for Health in the UK from 1945 to 1951. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice, the rights of working people and democratic socialism. He left school at 13 and worked as a miner during his teens where he soon became involved in local union politics, being named head of his Miner's Lodge at 19 years of age. He joined the Labour Party and was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP), for Ebbw Vale in South Wales, a position he held for 31 years. He was one of the chief spokesmen for the Labour Party's left wing, and of left-wing British thought generally.

Contents

Background

Following the heavy defeat of the Labour Party in the 1959 general election, its leader Hugh Gaitskell had determined that the party must change fundamentally to make itself electable. He decided to attempt to rewrite Clause IV of the party constitution, which appeared to commit it to nationalisation of every industry. [1] However his move provoked firm opposition from the major unions and the left-wing of the party, and facing certain defeat, he withdrew it in March 1960. [2] In the meantime the Government's decision to abandon the British Blue Streak missile and buy instead the US Skybolt system had made nuclear weapons a prominent political issue. Gaitskell supported the decision to buy an American system and to remain in NATO, a policy stance which outraged the left. [3] At the party conference in Scarborough in October 1960, motions calling for unilateral nuclear disarmament were carried despite Gaitskell's speech declaring that he and his allies would "fight and fight and fight again to save the Party we love". [4]

Clause IV

Clause IV is part of the constitution of the UK Labour Party, which sets out the aims and values of the party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years, with Hugh Gaitskell attempting to remove the clause after Labour's loss in the 1959 general election.

Blue Streak (missile) balistic missile

The de Havilland Propellers Blue Streak was a British medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM), and later the first stage of the Europa satellite launch vehicle. Blue Streak was cancelled without entering full production.

GAM-87 Skybolt A US air-launched ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead

The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons from well outside the range of Soviet defenses, as much as 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from their targets. To do this in an air-launched form, a lightweight thermonuclear warhead was needed. Initially, the W47 from the Polaris missile was selected, but it was later replaced by the W59 from the Minuteman missile.

Elections for the Leader and Deputy Leader were formally held by the Parliamentary Labour Party at the beginning of each Parliamentary session, which happened later in October. There was already a vacancy for the Deputy Leader of the Party due to the death of Aneurin Bevan in July, and many senior party figures were weighing up whether to stand for that post; contested elections for vacant posts were usual, but incumbents were not normally challenged. The result of the faction-fighting was that many on the left thought Gaitskell was both out of touch with the party and that a challenge might force him to the left, so they were keen to have a credible challenger. [5] One left candidate who was keen to fight for the deputy leadership was Harold Wilson, who found himself subjected to pressure to challenge Gaitskell instead. Peter Shore, then head of the Research Department at party headquarters, thought Gaitskell had lost the confidence of party staff and Wilson could restore it. Jennie Lee, Bevan's widow and a fellow Labour MP, led a delegation to Wilson. [6]

In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary party of the Labour Party in Parliament: Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour Party and the Conservative and Liberal parties. The term Parliamentary Labour Party refers to the party in Parliament, whereas the term Labour Party refers to the entire Labour Party, the parliamentary element of which is the PLP.

Harold Wilson former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976.

Peter Shore British politician

Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, PC was a British Labour politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community. His idiosyncratic left-wing nationalism led to comparison with the French politician Jean-Pierre Chevènement. He was described in an obituary by the Conservative journalist Patrick Cosgrave as "Between Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, the only possible Labour Party leader of whom a Conservative leader had cause to walk in fear" and, along with Enoch Powell, "the most captivating rhetorician of the age".

Wilson resisted but his hand was forced when Anthony Greenwood resigned from the Shadow Cabinet saying he would not serve under Gaitskell while he defied conference decisions. Greenwood then announced his candidature for leader but said he would stand aside in favour of someone with "broader" appeal, by which he meant Wilson. Wilson knew that the leadership challenge would not succeed but thought he stood a good chance of winning the deputy leadership; what changed his mind was the fear that he would lose the mantle of the left-wing standard bearer should he not stand. [7] He was also still furious with Gaitskell over a failed attempt to move him from the post of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer the previous year. [8] Although Wilson was aligned to the left, he was not a supporter of unilateralism; in standing for the leadership he said the issue was "unity versus civil war". [9]

The Shadow Cabinet or Shadow Ministry is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It consists of a senior group of opposition spokespeople who, under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mirror the positions of each individual member of the Cabinet. It is the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer an alternative program. The Shadow Cabinet makes up the majority of the Official Opposition frontbench.

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional role.

Candidates

Only two candidates were nominated.

Leeds South was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election. It was then largely replaced by the new Morley and Leeds South constituency.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Senior official in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom responsible for economic and financial matters

The Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Exchequer, commonly known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or simply the Chancellor, is a senior official within the Government of the United Kingdom and head of Her Majesty's Treasury. The office is a British Cabinet-level position.

Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885-1983

Ormskirk was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 as a division of the parliamentary county of Lancashire. The constituency boundaries were changed in 1918, 1950, 1955 and 1974.

Ballot

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 3 November was as follows:

Only ballot: 3 November 1960
CandidateVotes%
Hugh Gaitskell 16667.2
Harold Wilson 8132.8
Majority8534.4
Turnout229N/A
Hugh Gaitskell re-elected

Notes

  1. ↑ Philip Williams, "Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography", Jonathan Cape, 1979, pp. 544-9.
  2. ↑ Williams, p. 570.
  3. ↑ Williams, p. 579-80 and 587-88.
  4. ↑ Williams, p. 610-13.
  5. ↑ Williams, p. 624.
  6. ↑ Andrew Roth, "Sir Harold Wilson: Yorkshire Walter Mitty", Macdonald & Janes, 1977, p. 249.
  7. ↑ Roth, p. 250.
  8. ↑ Williams, p. 624-25.
  9. ↑ Roth, p. 251.

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References

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