Philip Snowden: The First Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer

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Throughout the summer of 1960 union conferences, many of whose rule books had their own equivalent to Clause IV, were hostile to the new proposal, and in the end four of the six largest unions opposed Gaitskell's plans.

Ignoring advice from his allies, and partly motivated by detailed polling by Mark Abrams which showed that younger voters regarded Labour as old-fashioned, Gaitskell pushed for reform. However, he ignored the concerns of the trade unions, which he judged to be conservative and fixated on wages. Dora Frost (née Creditor), who came out to join him in Vienna for the latter part of his stay there. Bevan, who had just challenged Morrison unsuccessfully for the Deputy Leadership, scraped on in twelfth and last place with 108 votes.

At the same time, however, taxation on profits was raised and pensions increased to compensate retirees for a rise in the cost of living, [65] while the allowances for dependent children payable to widows, the unemployed and the sick, together with marriage and child allowances, were also increased. In October 1955 Gaitskell was re-elected Party Treasurer by a wider margin over Bevan than the previous year.

Many other countries followed suit, so it was mainly UK trade with dollar-using countries which was affected.He recommended devaluation by 4 September, but rejected the idea that currencies become fully convertible – in the way that John Maynard Keynes had advocated at the Bretton Woods Conference – as this might prevent governments protecting full employment.

Chuter Ede described the leadership election as "the political funeral of two of the greatest publicity mongers I've ever known," adding that Gaitskell had never actively sought publicity. The men and women who formed Labour’s government included many of the greats who had led Labour in its first quarter-century. A very angry Bevan saw the charges as a blow to the principle of a free health service, telling a heckler whilst he was making a speech in Bermondsey (3 April 1951) that he would resign rather than accept health charges. On the Tuesday after the election Gaitskell lunched "bibulously" with Bevan at Asheridge in the Chilterns to discuss his plans for party reform. His first speech on Suez (2 August 1956) attacked Nasser and was welcomed by many Conservatives, and implied that he would support the use of force, but in Brivati's view did not give enough emphasis to his stipulation that it be done through the United Nations.By 1951 inflation was beginning to increase, the government budget surplus had disappeared, and in another sign of an overheating economy unemployment was down to 1945 levels. The Shadow Cabinet elections (elected by Labour MPs when the party was in opposition) were topped by Jim Griffiths and Chuter Ede. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer, the first Labour Chancellor, in the Labour Government formed by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929. The defence budget was to increase from 8% to 14% of GNP, a proportion exceeded only by the US amongst NATO members. The Campaign for Democratic Socialism was founded to promote the Gaitskellite cause – it never acquired much influence in the ranks of the trades unions, but achieved some success in promoting the selection of friendly Parliamentary candidates.

It was perhaps too smart-alecky, too clever: sarcasm was not the right tool for a subject that affected all humanity.In early July 1949 Gaitskell shared Chancellor of the Exchequer Stafford Cripps' worries that Treasury officials were too "liberal" and too reluctant to implement socialist measures.