title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson frequently toured Europe during this period and sang her 1950s rockabilly records. Many of the songs she performed had not been in her regular stage show for years. She recalled having to re-learn the lyrics to songs like "Mean Mean Man" after getting hundreds of requests. As the decade progressed, she found opportunities touring in various European counties, including Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Continued interest in her rock music led to further album releases, including 1988's "Let's Have a Party in Prague". The album was a collaborative studio LP with Czech performer Karel Zich and was released on the Supraphon label. She also continued releasing gospel material, such as "Show Me the Way to Calvary" (1981) on the Christian World label and "Teach Me to Love" (1984) on Vine Records. She also issued new collections of country recordings, such as "Classy Country" on Amethyst Records (1988).


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In the 1990s, Jackson was informed of rockabilly's resurgence in the United States by country artist Rosie Flores. The two visited at Jackson's home where Flores played several rockabilly records and informed her the growing American fan-base. A friendship developed between the two performers and Jackson later appeared on Flores's album "Rockabilly Filly" (1995). Following the album's release, the pair embarked on a five-week North American tour. Jackson was surprised to find that her audience was young and the venues were at times uncomfortable: "It was kind of eye-opening. Even though the rooms were a little frightening, the audiences couldn't have been sweeter," she stated. In the mid 1990s, Jackson also collaborated with The Alligators for studio releases on the Success and Elap labels: "Let's Have a Party" (1995) and "The Queen of Rock' a 'Billy" (1997).


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In 2001, Jackson played at the Rockabilly Festival in Jackson, Tennessee alongside The Cadillac Angels. In October 2003, CMH Records released her first American rock album in several decades titled "Heart Trouble". She recalled in her autobiography that the project was originally intended to be a bluegrass collection. After word spread that Jackson would record an album, several rock musicians contacted the label about joining the production. Musicians that collaborated on the CD included Rosie Flores, The Cramps and Elvis Costello. AllMusic's Thom Jurek praised the disc in his review: "Simply put, this is a rock & roll dream, full of raw, sharp performances, killer songs, and Jackson's irrepressible ability to take even the most innocent song and make it salacious." Charlotte Robinson of PopMatters called the album a "triumphant return" despite the fact that it "uses the same gimmicks as lesser 'comeback' albums."


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In January 2006, Goldenlane Records issued Jackson's forty-third studio album, titled "I Remember Elvis". The disc was dedicated to Elvis Presley, who she paid tribute to in the liner notes: "Without the encouragement of Elvis, I may have never recorded rock and roll. So this tribute is just my way of saying thank you to a dear friend." The project received a positive response from Mark Deming of AllMusic, who wrote, ""I Remember Elvis" is something short of revelatory, but it is a sincere and loving tribute to an influential artist from someone who learned from him first-hand. "Slant Magazine" gave the collection a three-star rating and praised Jackson's vocals while noting that the arrangements lacked distinction from Presley's originals.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson continued a busy touring schedule in the late 2000's. This included several performances in London, England and a popular gig in Santa Barbara, California. She also collaborated with Jerry Lee Lewis and Linda Gail Lewis for performances at the London Forum during this time. Following her 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson was approached by rock musician Jack White to record her next album. The pair exchanged song ideas virtually and met for the first time in 2010 to record the album. Jackson did not think she would "see eye to eye" with White, who was used to recording "contemporary rock-style music". She eventually became more trusting after getting to know him better. "It was clear that Jack was for me in every way, and I felt honored by the respect he showed me," Jackson recalled in her autobiography. White had Jackson record several songs he selected, including Little Richard's "Rip It Up" and Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good". White also contacted Bob Dylan, who requested she record his original "Thunder on the Mountain". Jackson agreed and cut the tracks, along with several others for the project.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In January 2011, her forty-second album was released, titled "The Party Ain't Over". The rock collection was released on Jack White's record label named Third Man Records. It became Jackson's first album to chart the Billboard 200 all-genre list, peaking at number 58. It also became her first disc to make the "Billboard" Top Rock Albums chart, where it climbed to number 17. The record received a three-star rating from Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine who argued that White's influence overshadowed Jackson's musical image. Erlewine did praise Jackson's vocals and found several tracks that felt like "they belong to her". "Rolling Stone"'s Jon Dolan gave the album three and half stars and called the track listing "superb". "Jackson’s not content to just remake the greats: Her slaying of Amy Winehouse's 'You Know I’m No Good' is a master class for her wild-child inheritors", Dolan concluded. In her autobiography Jackson recalled making several television appearances to promote the disc. This included performances on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Conan". She also recalled taking the stage for the first time in decades at the Grand Ole Opry.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson did not think she could record an album better than her 2011 release. She was encouraged to return to the studio and collaborate with singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle. In her autobiography, Jackson reflected that her voice was "not in top form" during the album's recording. She blamed a long concert schedule for her vocal quality. In October 2012, Sugar Hill Records released the project titled "Unfinished Business". It included liner notes written by Stephen King. The CD peaked at number 61 on the "Billboard" Top Country Albums chart in 2012, becoming her first disc in 39 years to reach a peak position there. Mark Deming of AllMusic gave the project a positive response in his review: ""Unfinished Business" shows that six decades after her first recordings, that strategy still works, and she can still deliver the goods without a lot of needless fuss." Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" found the album was better-suited to Jackson's musical roots compared to previous release, praising her vocal quality and Earle's production.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In 2017, Jackson's autobiography titled "Every Night is Saturday Night: A Country Girl's Journey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" was published. Co-written by Jackson and Scott Bomar, it was published by BMG Music and featured a foreword by Elvis Costello. According to an interview, Jackson had attempted an autobiography but found the writing "didn't come out well". Working with Bomar made Jackson feel more comfortable with writing a book. The launch was honored by a party, signing and performance at the Grammy Museum.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson played a handful of 2018 shows before announcing her retirement in March 2019. She told "Rolling Stone" that a previously undisclosed stroke was partially to blame, along with additional "health and safety concerns". In August 2021, Big Machine Records and Blackheart Records issued her next studio record titled "Encore". The disc was produced by Joan Jett. Jett is featured performing on the record, along with Elle King and Angaleena Presley. Jackson announced that the project would be her last album. "Encore" featured songs co-written by Nashville songwriters like Will Hoge and Lori McKenna. It received a positive review from Mark Deming of AllMusic who gave it 3.5 stars: "Clocking in at a very 1950s 25 minutes, "Encore" doesn't feel like a major event and it doesn't add a great deal to the Wanda Jackson story, but it's a welcome reminder that the first truly great female rocker is still among us and hasn't surrendered to time," he concluded. "American Songwriter" commented that Jackson "sets the standard, and even in her seventh decade of making music, that confidence and control remain readily apparent."


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson's musical style includes rockabilly, country and gospel music. In her early career, she was known for releasing country and rock records simultaneously. Music writers and critics have analyzed the reasoning behind this decision. Critic Bruce Eder explained that "she spent years walking a tightrope between traditional country and rock & roll, just trying to carve out a niche for herself and earn a living". Author Kurt Wolff wrote that Jackson released both genres simultaneously because she "never [felt] the need to hide one set of songs from fans of the other." Critic William Ruhlmann theorized that Jackson "was encouraged to straddle musical genres" due to her record label's worries that rock would decline in popularity.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Her characteristic vocal growl has also been a subject of discussion among writers, critics and historians. Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann stated that Jackson's vocal growl "captured the elemental, low-class wildness of this music [rock and roll] better than any female of her day." NPR's Maria Sherman claimed that Jackson's snarl changed the way audiences view female singers and performers. Stephen L. Betts of "Rolling Stone" commented that Jackson's vocal snarl gave her a "one-of-a-kind voice like spring-loaded dynamite wrapped in sandpaper." Jackson's singing growl led to one journalist dubbing her as "a really sweet lady – with a nasty voice."


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson is also known for being able to yodel. Several selections in her catalog feature yodeling, including 1969's "Cowboy Yodel" and 1975's "Jesus Put a Yodel in My Soul". "I always yodelled. People just loved yodelling," she told the BBC.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson's choice of stage wear and movement on stage has also been a subject of discussion. Unlike other female country performers, Jackson chose to dress in gold lamé outfits and sequined dresses, most of which were designed by her mother. "I was the first one to put some glamour in the country music," she explained to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann added that Jackson's outfits demonstrated "fire, energy, and uninhibited nerve that doubtless shocked conservatives". The way Jackson moved on stage has also been seen as uncharacteristic of other female performers. Bobby Moore added that Jackson's live shows embedded "upbeat songs" and "high-energy" that "compelled audience members to party like they don't have to work the next day." In the same interview, she explained her reasoning for putting on a high-energy performance show: "I feel like it's my job to see that people have a good time when they come out to a concert."


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson has been referred to as "The Queen of Rockabilly" due to her being one of the early female performers in the rock genre. She has also been considered among the first women to have a life-long career in country music. Her career has influenced a series of performers in both the country and rock fields. Pam Tillis is among several country artists who regard Jackson as an influence. To honor her, Tillis included Jackson on her 1995 TNN concert series hosted at the Ryman Auditorium. Rosie Flores has also cited Jackson as an influence on her music and career. Flores spoke of how Jackson influenced her career in a 2012 interview with the "Chicago Tribune": "The main thing I learned was that the older you get, the music you do and the way you put it out doesn't change. You don't have to slow down. You can keep rocking. There is no age when it comes to rock 'n' roll." Jann Browne has also cited Jackson as a musical inspiration. She included Jackson on her 1990 studio album titled "Tell Me Why". Miranda Lambert also found Jackson to be an influence on her career: "Here was the woman who in so many ways, changed the way audiences and record labels viewed female artists. She literally helped to pave the way for me to do what I love each and every day."


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In rock music, several artists have also named Jackson an artistic influence. Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello paid tribute to Jackson in her 2008 documentary centered on her life and career. Cyndi Lauper cited her as one of the earliest influences on her career, recording "Funnel of Love" for her 2016 album "Detour". "I think for country you look at Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn who played a guitar, or sang the songs she wrote, and Dolly Parton. But Wanda Jackson was a rocker, and so, of course, I was going to listen and learn from her because I was a rocker and that's what we did." Adele explained that a "greatest hits" package by Jackson helped influence her 2008 studio album, "19". Elle King also named Jackson as an influence on her music in 2016.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson was twice nominated for Grammy Awards. Her 1964 album, "Two Sides of Wanda", was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. In 1970, "A Woman Lives for Love" was nominated for the same. Jackson's work got more recognition several decades later when she received the Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. She became the first female country and rock performer to receive the accolade.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: During this period, various rock musicians began advocating for Jackson to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005, Elvis Costello wrote a letter to the organization about why she should be inducted. Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen also advocated for her. In 2005, she was nominated by the organization. In 2009, Jackson was officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the category "Early Influence". She was presented with the induction by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: Jackson was also inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame. On an international level, she has been inducted into the International Gospel Hall of Fame and the German Country Music Hall of Fame.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In 2009, Oklahoma City named an alley for Jackson in the Bricktown entertainment district. Jackson's hometown of Maud also named one of their streets after her. In 2010, she and John Mellencamp were recipients of the Lifetime Achievement award from the Americana Music Honors. In 2016, she was the recipient of the "Founder of the Sound" award at the Ameripolitan Music Awards.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In 2002, she was included on CMT's televised special of the "40 Great Women in Country Music". In 2006 Alfred Publishing acknowledged her influence on young musicians by publishing "The Best of Wanda Jackson: Let's Have a Party", a songbook with music and lyrics to thirteen songs associated with Jackson. In 2008, the Smithsonian Channel released a documentary focused on Jackson's career titled "The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice". In 2019, Ken Burns profiled her in his televised documentary titled "Country Music".


title: Wanda Jackson

text: After Jackson spent time touring with Elvis Presley, the pair's relationship became romantic in 1955. He asked her to make the relationship official by giving Jackson a small diamond ring that she wore on a necklace. In her autobiography, she explained that Presley "won my heart as I was just beginning to understand what it really meant to embrace my femininity and express myself as a young woman." According to Jackson, the pair's relationship ended in 1956 once Presley began appearing in films and Colonel Tom Parker took control of his career.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In her teen years, Jackson befriended aspiring country performer Norma Jean. The two often appeared on the "Ozark Jubilee" television show and socialized frequently. Norma Jean began dating local resident, Wendell Goodman, and Jackson sometimes joined them on dates. In 1961, Norma Jean accepted an offer to become a cast member of "The Porter Wagoner Show" in Nashville and ended her relationship with Goodman. Jackson and Goodman started dating shortly after their breakup. In her 2017 book, she recalled that she fell in love with him prior to their dating: "When they [Norma Jean and Goodman] had first came into the house and I saw Wendell, that was it. It was love at first sight." The couple married in 1961. Goodman had begun a career in computers with IBM, but left the position to become his wife's full-time business manager. He later oversaw and managed his wife's company named Wanda Jackson Enterprises. In 2017, Goodman died at the age of 81.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: The couple had two children together. Their daughter, Gina, was born in 1962 while their son, Greg, was born in 1964. Because Jackson's husband traveled with her, their children were kept home and raised by nannies. Jackson's parents also kept the children on weekends. "I knew it wasn't a normal childhood for them, and I've always carried a little guilt about that," she recalled in 2017.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: By 1971, Jackson had become increasingly unhappy in her professional and personal life. "I had everything that a person could need or want. But I still couldn't shake that dull but persistent sense of emptiness inside," she later explained. She and her husband had also developed a problem with alcohol. Their problems with drinking led Goodman to become physically and verbally abusive with Jackson. Upon returning from a show, Jackson recalled going to church with her family and having a life-altering experience. "After we got up off our knees, everything was different," she stated in her autobiography. The couple found solace in Christianity and dedicated their personal lives to spirituality in 1971. They were later baptized, and the couple went on to state that faith saved their marriage.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: The couple's belief in their faith would lead them to working with Evangelists in Dallas, Texas during the late 1970s. Her husband set up an office building in the city where that offered resources to various ministries in the local area. As Jackson's rockabilly music revived in the 1980s, the couple decided to invest less professional time with Christianity. "It was hard to feel right about singing in bars again, but God confirmed in my spirit, time and time again, that that's where He wanted me and that's where I could be most effective," she explained in her autobiography.


title: Wanda Jackson

text: In the 2010s, Jackson developed pneumonia and was hospitalized for a week. A knee replacement became infected with MRSA and she fell several times in her Oklahoma house, damaging her shoulder. In 2017, her internal bleeding was treated at a hospital in Tijuana, Mexico that focused on nutritional and medical therapy. A 2018 stroke led her to retire. She said it would have impaired her more if her daughter brought her to the hospital later. "I was so fortunate", she told "The Independent" in 2021.


title: Ben Howard

text: Benjamin John Howard (born 24 April 1987) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut EP "Games in the Dark" (2008) was followed by two more EPs, "These Waters" (2009) and "Old Pine" (2010). Signed to Island Records, his debut studio album came in 2011 titled "Every Kingdom". The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Howard later released two more EPs, "Ben Howard Live" (2011) and "The Burgh Island E.P." (2012).


title: Ben Howard

text: At the 2013 Brit Awards ceremony he received two awards: British Male Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough Act. He performed at 2013 Glastonbury festival on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 29 June. He released his second studio album, "I Forget Where We Were", in October 2014, peaking at number one on the UK Albums Chart.


title: Ben Howard

text: As of 2017, he is a member of the band A Blaze of Feather with India Bourne, Mickey Smith, Nat Wason, Rich Thomas and Kyle Keegan.


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard's third studio album, "Noonday Dream", was released in June 2018. It debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, and received favorable reviews from music critics. His fourth album, "Collections from the Whiteout," was released on 26 March 2021.


title: Ben Howard

text: Benjamin John Howard was born on 24 April 1987 in Richmond, south-west London, England, and moved near Totnes, Devon when he was about eight. He was raised by musical parents who exposed him to their favourite records from singer-songwriter artists from the 1960s and 1970s at an early age, such as John Martyn, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel, by whom he was strongly influenced.


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard began writing songs when he was eleven. In an interview with "American Songwriter", he stated that when he was a kid he started playing guitar because he liked to put words together and make stuff up. "I was quite an imaginative little kid I guess. So your standard little love songs turned into your standard adolescent love songs. I think you start getting your own take on things when you're a late teen. That's when everything changes." Besides playing the guitar, Howard also played other instruments as a kid. He easily picked up the drums and contrabass, but after some time he decided to focus on the guitar. After attending King Edward VI Community College and Torquay Boys' Grammar School he began studying Journalism at University College Falmouth. Six months prior to completion of his course, Howard decided to focus on making music full-time, making melodic rootsy folk music, with progressively darker lyrics. His reputation grew around Devon, and soon spread to other areas of the UK. After a month of sold-out dates across Europe and the UK Howard was eventually asked to sign for Island Records.


title: Ben Howard

text: Due to his association with the town, Howard was chosen in 2014 to appear on the 10 Totnes pound note.


title: Ben Howard

text: Before signing to a record label, Howard had already released some material. In 2008 he self-released his debut EP "Games in the Dark". His first major release was "These Waters", an EP featuring six tracks, including "The Wolves". In 2010, Ben Howard released the "Old Pine EP", followed by a number of singles, such as "The Fear" and "Keep Your Head Up". Howard now had enough material to release an album, "Every Kingdom", which would feature a number of his previous singles. One of the songs from this album, 'Promise' was used in the first episode of "The 100". In 2010, he also started supporting Angus & Julia Stone's concerts in Europe. He also joined them for one live performance of "Yellow Brick Road" in Paris.


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard signed to Island Records in 2011, due to the label's history of UK folk singers, including Nick Drake and John Martyn. After singles "Old Pine" and "The Wolves" were released in 2011, Howard recorded his debut album entitled "Every Kingdom", which was released on 3 October 2011. He was nominated for the 2012 "Mercury Prize".


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard worked alongside India Bourne, Marcus Wright and Chris Bond to make "Every Kingdom", with Bourne playing cello, keyboards, ukulele, bass and contributing vocals and percussion, Bond playing guitars, bass, double bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, accordion, contributing to vocals, and also producing the record, and additional modular-dynamic (MD) synthesisers provided by Wright. He also toured with Bourne and Bond on his 2012 Every Kingdom tour, with support from Willy Mason.


title: Ben Howard

text: In 2012, Howard launched his music in America with "Every Kingdom" being released on 3 April 2012, and appearances at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas and a US tour confirmed. His song "Promise" was featured at the end of season 8, episode 12 of TV show "House".


title: Ben Howard

text: In May 2012, Howard performed "The Wolves" on "Later... with Jools Holland". He played at Pinkpop in the Netherlands on 26 May and Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hackney on 24 June 2012. He also played at the 2012 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, the 2012 T in the Park music festival in Scotland, as well as Beach Break Live 2012 in South Wales, Bestival 2012 and Splendour in the Grass 2012. Howard also played a slot at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October 2012.


title: Ben Howard

text: In November 2012, Howard released "The Burgh Island EP" produced by Chris Bond, which featured four new tracks. Once again released to critical acclaim, the EP had a darker, more menacing tone than most of Howard's previous work, with Howard also playing electric guitar, rather than his traditional acoustic. The second track from the EP, "Oats in the Water", was featured in Internment, the 5th episode in Season 4 of AMC's "The Walking Dead," in the 1st episode in season 3 of Fox's "The Following," and in the release trailer for "". In 2014, the song "Promise" from the album "Every Kingdom" featured in the USA Network drama, "Suits" Season 3 Episode 11, "Buried Secrets" along with The CW drama Reign Season 1 Episode 10, "Sacrifice".


title: Ben Howard

text: Ben Howard played on the main Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2013, on Saturday 29 June 2013, in which he played five tracks from "Every Kingdom". He also played on the Other Stage during Glastonbury Festival 2015.


title: Ben Howard

text: In 2014, Howard headlined the inaugural Somersault Festival, based in North Devon, with other artists such as Jack Johnson.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 5 August 2014, Howard's first single "End of the Affair" from his second album was played on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 and Danielle Perry's XFM show.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 18 August 2014 Howard announced the title of his second album, "I Forget Where We Were" on Zane Lowe's show on Radio 1 whilst releasing the title track from the record at the same time. On 26 October "I Forget Where We Were" became number 26 in the UK Official Albums Chart.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 6 April 2015, Howard announced a short string of tour dates in the US with English indie folk band Daughter as support. These dates were announced following a string of successful shows in Canada and the US.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 4 April 2018 it was announced that Howard's third album, titled "Noonday Dream", would be released on 1 June 2018. A new single was also released, titled "A Boat To An Island On The Wall". The single debuted on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show with accompanying 2018 UK tour dates announced. A tracklist for the upcoming album was released on his website, along with 2 bonus vinyl-only tracks "Bird On A Wing" and "Interlude".


title: Ben Howard

text: Together with his band Howard performed two songs from the album, "Nica Libres At Dusk" and "Towing The Line", on Later... with Jools Holland on 15 May 2018.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 13 September 2018 Ben Howard released 'Another Friday Night/Heavy Summer (featuring Sylvan Esso)/Sister' a track of three different singles. Shortly after the release of these singles, he went on to release another single 'Heave Ho' in January 2019.


title: Ben Howard

text: On 26 January 2021, Ben Howard announced that his fourth album, "Collections from the Whiteout," would be released on 26 March 2021. Along side the announcement, Howard released the single "What A Day". The album was produced by The National and Big Red Machine member Aaron Dessner, recorded over an 18 month period, mostly at Dessner's New York studio Long Pond with additional production in Paris.


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard has been in a relationship with Agatha Lintott since 2014. Howard is a supporter of Liverpool F.C.


title: Ben Howard

text: Howard plays guitar left-handed and makes extensive use of alternate tunings such as CGCGGC (Old Pine, Everything), DADGAD (In Dreams) and CGA#GFC (End of the Affair, Esmerelda). He also complements these tunings by using a partial capo for many songs (Further Away, Everything, End of the Affair) in order to use harmonic or bass notes otherwise unavailable.


title: Ben Howard

text: He also has a distinctive percussive strumming style, called the "pick and go", and Howard's method of laying the guitar flat on top of his knees and playing it percussively was influenced by contemporary folk songwriter and guitarist John Smith.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with "The 400 Blows" (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc Godard and Aki Kaurismäki, as well as with other notable directors such as Jean Cocteau, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Jerzy Skolimowski, Agnès Varda, Jacques Rivette, etc. He is a significant figure of the French New Wave.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of French film director François Truffaut, in "The 400 Blows". To cast the two central characters, Antoine Doinel and his partner-in-crime René Bigey, Truffaut published an announcement in "France-Soir" and auditioned several hundred children in September and October 1958. Jean Domarchi, a critic at "Cahiers du cinéma", had earlier recommended the son of an assistant scriptwriter, Pierre Léaud, and the actress Jacqueline Pierreux. Patrick Auffay was cast as René.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Truffaut was immediately captivated by the fourteen-year-old Léaud, who had already appeared with Jean Marais in Georges Lampin's "La Tour, prends garde !" (1958). He recognized traits they both shared, "for example a certain suffering with regard to the family...With, however, this fundamental difference: though we were both rebels, we hadn't expressed our rebellion in the same way. I preferred to cover up and lie. Jean-Pierre, on the contrary, seeks to hurt, shock and wants it to be known...Why? Because he's unruly, while I was sly. Because his excitability requires that things happen to him, and when they don't occur quickly enough, he provokes them". In his final interview, Truffaut mentioned he was happy with how Léaud improvised within the flexibly written script.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Jean-Pierre Léaud, then in the eighth grade at a private school in Pontigny, was a far from ideal student. The director of the school wrote this to Truffaut, "I regret to inform you that Jean-Pierre is more and more 'unmanageable'. Indifference, arrogance, permanent defiance, lack of discipline in all its forms. He has twice been caught leafing through pornographic pictures in the dorm. He is developing more and more into an emotionally disturbed case". But this unstable boy, who often ran away with the older students on their nights out, could also be brilliant, generous, and affectionate. Extremely cultured for his age, he was already very good at writing, and he even claimed to Truffaut that he had written a "verse tragedy", "Torquatus".


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Throughout the production of "The 400 Blows" ("Les Quatre Cents Coups", 1959), wrote Jay Carr "Truffaut would take Léaud to see rushes of Godard's "Breathless" each evening. They'd sit up late talking film with Godard, Rivette, Rohmer, Eustache, Orson Welles." Upon the filmmaker's death, the actor reminisced Truffaut was the first person he admired and that he "spoke to children like they were adults. He realized that children understood things better than adults did. He was purely intuitive. We operated in a sort of complicity."


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: During and following the filming of "The 400 Blows", Truffaut's concern for Léaud extended beyond the film set. He took charge of the difficult adolescent's upbringing after Léaud was expelled from school and kicked out of the home of the retired couple taking care of him. Truffaut subsequently rented a studio apartment for Léaud. Truffaut also hired him for assistant work on "The Soft Skin" ("La peau douce", 1964) and "Mata Hari, Agent H21" (1964).


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Léaud starred in four more Truffaut films depicting the life of Doinel, spanning a period of 20 years—after the short-film "Antoine et Colette" in 1962—beside actress Claude Jade as his girlfriend, and then wife, Christine. Those films are "Stolen Kisses" (1968), "Bed and Board" (1970) and "Love on the Run" (1979). Truffaut stated that Léaud was the source of inspiration for the Antoine Doinel character and "I created some scenes just because I knew he would be funny in them—at least I laughed during the writing as I thought of him." He also collaborated with Truffaut on non-Antoine Doinel films like "Two English Girls" ("Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent", 1971) and "Day for Night" ("La Nuit américaine", 1973) and became the actor most commonly affiliated with him. Although Antoine Doinel is his most familiar character, he often found his performances in other films to be compared to his Doinel character whether there were legitimate similarities or not.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Léaud is one of the most visible and well-known actors to be associated with the French New Wave film movement and, aside from his work with Truffaut, collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard (nine films), Jean Eustache, Jacques Rivette and Agnès Varda. The early 1970s was perhaps the peak of his professional career when he had three critically acclaimed films released: Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), Truffaut's "La Nuit américaine", and Eustache's "The Mother and the Whore" (both 1973). In the Bertolucci film, Léaud appeared in the same film as a hero of his, Marlon Brando, although the two men never met, since all of Léaud's scenes were shot on Saturdays and Brando refused to work on Saturdays.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: In March 1966, Léaud won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in Jean-Luc Godard's "Masculin, féminin". He was nominated for a César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1988 for Les Keufs and was awarded an Honorary César for lifetime achievement in 2000.


title: Jean-Pierre Léaud

text: Léaud acted in films by other influential directors, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jerzy Skolimowski, Aki Kaurismäki and Olivier Assayas and Tsai Ming-liang.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. 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 following 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The perceived similarity in his outlook to that of his 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. With Labour in opposition from 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. In 1956 he opposed the Eden government's use of military force at Suez. Against a backdrop of a booming economy he led Labour to its third successive defeat at the 1959 general election.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In the late 1950s, in the teeth of opposition from the major trade unions, he attempted in vain to remove Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution, which committed Labour to 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Despite this setback, Gaitskell reversed an attempt to adopt unilateral nuclear disarmament as Labour Party policy, and opposed Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's attempt to lead the UK into the European Common Market. He was loved and hated for his confrontational leadership and brutal frankness. 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Hugh Gaitskell was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest child of Arthur Gaitskell (1869–1915), of the Indian Civil Service, and Adelaide Mary, "née" Jamieson (died 1956), whose father, George Jamieson, was consul-general in Shanghai and prior to that had been Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan. He was known as "Sam" as a child. The Gaitskells had a long family connection with the Indian Army, and he spent his childhood in Burma. After his father's death, his mother soon remarried and returned to Burma, leaving him at boarding school.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell was educated at the Dragon School from 1912 to 1919, where he was a friend of the future poet John Betjeman. He then attended Winchester College from 1919 to 1924.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: He attended New College, Oxford, from 1924 to 1927. Studying under G. D. H. Cole, Gaitskell became a socialist and wrote a long essay on Chartism, arguing that the working class needed middle class leadership. Gaitskell's first political involvement came about as a result of the General Strike of 1926. Most students supported the government and many volunteered for civil defence duties, or helped to run essential services. Gaitskell, unusually, supported the strikers and acted as a driver for people like his Oxford contemporary Evan Durbin and Cole's wife Margaret, who made speeches and delivered the trade union newspaper "British Worker". After the collapse of the General Strike, Gaitskell spent another six months raising funds for the miners, whose dispute (technically a lockout rather than a strike) did not end until November. He graduated with a first-class degree in Philosophy, politics and economics in 1927.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In 1927–28 Gaitskell lectured in economics for the Workers' Educational Association to miners in Nottinghamshire. His essay on Chartism was published as a WEA booklet in 1928. This was his first experience of interaction with the working class. Gaitskell eventually came to oppose both Cole's Guild socialism and Syndicalism and to feel that the General Strike had been the last failed spasm of a strategy – attempting to seize power through direct trade union action – which had already been tried in the abortive Triple Alliance Strike of 1921. It is unclear whether Gaitskell was ever sympathetic to Oswald Mosley, then seen as a future leader of the Labour Party. Gaitskell's wife later insisted that he never had been, but Margaret Cole, Evan Durbin's wife and Noel Hall believed that he was, although as an opponent of factional splits he was not tempted to join Mosley's New Party in 1931.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell helped to run the New Fabian Research Bureau, set up by G. D. H. Cole in March 1931. He was selected as Labour candidate for Chatham in autumn 1932. Gaitskell moved to University College London in the early 1930s at the invitation of Noel Hall. In 1934 he joined the XYZ Club, a club for Labour financial experts (e.g. Hugh Dalton, of whom he became a protégé, Douglas Jay and Evan Durbin) and City people such as the economist Nicholas Davenport. Dalton and Gaitskell were often referred to as "Big Hugh and Little Hugh" over the next fifteen years.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In 1934 Gaitskell was in Vienna on a Rockefeller scholarship. He was attached to the University of Vienna for the 1933–34 academic year and witnessed first-hand the political suppression of the social democratic workers movement by the conservative Engelbert Dollfuss's government in February 1934. This event made a lasting impression, making him profoundly hostile to conservatism but also making him reject as futile the Marxian outlook of many European social democrats. This placed him in the socialist revisionist camp.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: At the 1935 general election, he stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate for Chatham. Gaitskell helped to draft "Labour’s Immediate Programme" in 1937. This had a strong emphasis on planning, although not as much as his mentor Dalton would have liked, with no plans for the nationalisation of banks or the steel industry. He also drafted documents which would have been used in the election due in 1939–40. Dalton helped him to be selected as candidate for South Leeds in 1937, and had it not been for the war, he would very likely have become an MP by 1940.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell became head of the Department of Political Economy at UCL when Hall was appointed Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in 1938, jointly with Paul Rosenstein-Rodan. He also became a University Reader. He opposed the appeasement of Nazi Germany and supported rearmament.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Whilst a WEA lecturer in the late 1920s Gaitskell lived for a time with a local woman in Nottinghamshire. This is thought to have been his first adult relationship. Until the early 1930s he rejected marriage as a "bourgeois convention".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: According to Michael Bloch, Gaitskell enjoyed a number of same-sex relationships while at Oxford, including with John Betjeman, and in the 1930s in Vienna, with John Gunther.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: By the mid-1930s Gaitskell had formed a close relationship with a married woman, Mrs. Dora Frost (née Creditor), who came out to join him in Vienna for the latter part of his stay there. Adultery still carried such stigma that she thought it best not to help him during his Parliamentary campaign in Chatham in 1935. After her divorce, hard to obtain prior to the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1937, they were eventually married on 9 April 1937, Gaitskell's thirty-first birthday, with Evan Durbin as best man. Dora had a son, Raymond Frost (b 1925), from her first marriage. The Gaitskells had two daughters: Julia, born in 1939 and Cressida, born in 1942. Dora Gaitskell became a Labour life peer one year following her husband's death, and died in 1989.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell had a long-term affair in the 1950s with the socialite Ann Fleming, the wife of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. She wrote to Evelyn Waugh about a dinner party in 1958 in which Gaitskell and friends from Oxford days "held hands and recited verse because in early life they had loved each other in the same set", until the arrival of her husband "silenced the eminent homos" who "did not seem too pleased." Woodrow Wyatt wrote that "there was a scintilla of platonic homosexuality in [Gaitskell's] affection for Tony [Crosland]"


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In private, he was humorous and fun loving, with a love of ballroom dancing. This contrasted with his stern public image. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: 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 Ministry of Economic Warfare, giving him experience of government. 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. 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. For his service, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: 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. 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell was elected Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South in the Labour landslide victory of 1945. Despite his illness, as a protege of Dalton he was seriously considered for immediate appointment as a junior minister, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Board of Trade (under Stafford Cripps). This would have been a rare honour as 263 of the 393 Labour MPs in 1945 were newly elected, but did not take place.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: As a backbencher, he spoke in debates in support of Dalton's 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell was given his first ministerial appointment in May 1946 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Fuel and Power, serving under Emmanuel "Manny" Shinwell. The job had initially been earmarked for Harold Wilson, with Gaitskell pencilled in to succeed Wilson as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Works. Gaitskell believed that Shinwell, who was suspicious of middle class intellectual socialists, may have picked him in preference to Wilson because the latter was already an expert on the mining industry.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell played an important role steering the Coal Nationalisation Bill through the House of Commons, bearing the brunt of the committee stage and winding up the final debate. In the fuel crisis of February 1947 Shinwell, who had ignored Gaitskell's warnings, had to ask the Cabinet for permission to shut down power stations; Gaitskell was put on and ran the key committee which decided where coal should be sent. In 1947 he once again played an important role steering electricity nationalisation through the House of Commons, winding up the debate on the second reading.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: On 7 October 1947 Gaitskell was promoted to Minister of Fuel and Power in Shinwell's place. He was not made a member of the Cabinet, although he often attended Cabinet meetings when his input was required. He had committed a gaffe during the municipal election campaign in Hastings earlier that year, when he recommended that people save fuel by taking fewer baths, adding that he had never taken all that many himself; in the House of Commons in late October Churchill joked that it was no wonder that the Government were "in bad odour" and asked the Speaker if he might be permitted to describe Labour ministers as "lousey", normally an unparliamentary expression, as it would be a simple statement of fact. Gaitskell made himself very unpopular by abolishing the basic petrol ration for private motorists, but encouraged the building of oil refineries, a move little-noticed at the time which would have important repercussions for the future.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: 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. Like Cripps and Dalton, Gaitskell was a devotee of cheap money. Not only were higher interest rates seen as associated with the Gold standard and the deflationary policies of the 1920s, but the policy preference in the 1940s was for quantitative controls (e.g. exchange controls in finance, or rationing of physical goods) rather than the price mechanism. Interest rates, which had been cut to low levels in the 1930s, did not begin to be used as an instrument of policy again until after the Conservatives returned to power in 1952.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Cripps was seriously unwell and had to go to Switzerland to convalesce on 18 July; Attlee announced that he was taking over Cripps’ responsibilities with three young, financially able, ministers to advise him. Gaitskell soon emerged as the leader of the group, the others being Harold Wilson, President of the Board of Trade, and Douglas Jay, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. All three had been wartime civil servants.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The young ministers were now in favour of devaluation of the Pound sterling, currently at $4.03. Jay lunched with Gaitskell on 20 July 1949, and they agreed that this would help to reverse the drain of capital out of the UK, that the US was unlikely to help with further loans or gifts of dollars, that Commonwealth countries needed to be encouraged to buy British goods rather than goods priced in dollars, that there was potential to increase exports to dollar areas, and that if nothing was done there was a risk of reserves running low and a collapse in sterling putting the UK at the mercy of the US. On 21 July Gaitskell, Jay and Wilson met the Prime Minister to tell him that devaluation was inevitable as reserves were still dropping. On 29 July, the Cabinet agreed in principle to devalue, having also been given the same advice in another memo from senior civil servants, Sir Edward Bridges (Permanent Secretary to the Treasury) and the two Treasury Second Secretaries (Robert Hall and Sir Edwin Plowden).


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Cripps returned to London on 18 August to be greeted by two memoranda from Gaitskell. One was a short paper advising a general election that autumn after devaluation. Cripps did indeed make that recommendation to Attlee, but it was rejected. The second paper was ten pages on devaluation, which in Edmund Dell’s view it is unlikely he actually read. Gaitskell argued that with employment high, the balance of payments in decent shape and inflation a containable problem, the "only" problem was shortage of dollars, with US opinion very reluctant to help the UK any more. He recommended spending cuts to keep inflation under control – but did not say how much. He also recommended that sterling initially float within a band of $2.80–$2.60, a proposal discussed with Hall and Plowden. 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. Dell argues that Gaitskell’s memo was full of the impatience of a young man at his elders clinging to office, but that on the other hand he himself had been slow to recognise the need for devaluation. Gaitskell and Wilson met with Attlee, Ernest Bevin and Cripps at Chequers on 19 August, and Bevin and Cripps agreed with some reluctance to devaluation. The decision was finally confirmed by the Cabinet on 9 August, although Cripps rejected Gaitskell’s plan for a floating band. Devaluation (from $4.03 to $2.80) was announced on Sunday 18 September after a secret Cabinet meeting the day before. Many other countries followed suit, so it was mainly UK trade with dollar-using countries which was affected.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell had initially been suspicious of devaluation because it was a price mechanism, but earned the admiration of Robert Hall over this crisis. He accepted the need for spending cuts to help make devaluation work and keep to keep the Americans happy, and thought former chancellor Dalton "rather dishonest" for arguing at the Economic Policy Committee that cuts were not necessary. Cripps, who had implied in his devaluation broadcast that devaluation was an "alternative" to cuts, threatened to resign unless cuts of £300m were agreed; Aneurin Bevan (Minister of Health) in turn threatened to resign as did A.V. Alexander (Minister of Defence). In the event most of the cuts were to future spending plans except for Bevan's housing budget.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In January 1950 Gaitskell submitted a paper called "Control and Liberalisation" to the Economic Policy Committee, which he was sometimes invited to attend. He wrote that "On 'liberalisation' we have gone about far enough. But we have done it for political reasons – US and Europe". He was opposed to the convertibility of currencies and non-discrimination between trading partners, both policies which the US favoured. Britain still preferred to encourage trade in pounds sterling within the Commonwealth, and Gaitskell wanted to preserve Britain's ability to avoid downturns like the US downturn of 1948–9, which Britain had largely escaped because of devaluation.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In the February 1950 General Election the Government were re-elected with a tiny majority. In the ensuing reshuffle Gaitskell was appointed Minister for Economic Affairs, effectively Deputy Chancellor but still outside the Cabinet. He was made a full member of the Economic Policy Committee. Soon after his promotion he recorded that he often had to stiffen up Cripps, who was not as tough as his public image would suggest, to make sure he did not make too many concessions in negotiations with colleagues.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The level of spending on the new NHS was already running far in excess of predictions. In November 1949, with the high level of public spending already a problem and under pressure from Cripps, Bevan had pushed an act through Parliament granting the government the power to impose prescription charges, although they were not brought in just yet (Cripps had wanted 1 shilling per prescription, but Bevan had not agreed to this). In the 1949–50 financial year Cripps had allowed £90m of extra health service spending ("supplementaries"). Early in 1950 Cripps backed off from a plan to introduce further charges, this time on false teeth and spectacles, after Bevan threatened to resign, but Gaitskell was put on a committee to monitor Bevan's agreement to a ceiling on NHS spending. The Treasury wanted health spending capped at £350m per annum, although it was willing to accept £392m for 1950–1.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: There was already friction between Gaitskell and Bevan. At one meeting, probably 28 June 1950, Bevan had been about to walk out of the room until Attlee called him back. Bevan stopped attending Cripps’ Thursday night dinners for economics ministers. After one of those dinners Bevan's old ally John Strachey, now Minister of Food, rebuked him for attacking Gaitskell, whom he thought "one of the really considerable men of the Government", a suggestion to which Bevan responded with derision, calling him "nothing, nothing, nothing".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: By the second half of 1950 the western powers were caught up in a major rearmament drive. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 at first threatened US loss of South Korea (which was seen as vital for the defence of Japan), and by the autumn threatened to escalate into a general war between the US and Communist China. There were also very real worries that the Soviets might invade western Europe (which was unarmed, with strong communist influence in many countries) and that the US would not help Britain if she did not help herself. The crushing of democracy in Czechoslovakia had been as recent as 1948. In August 1950 the British defence budget was hiked from £2.3bn to £3.6bn (a total over a three-year period); at this stage it had appeared that the US would be willing to help foot the bill.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In September 1950 inflationary pressure was worsened when the TUC voted to end the existing two-year wage freeze, although there was no wage explosion just yet. It was difficult for the Treasury to take tough measures given the government's small majority and the likelihood of another election soon.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell thought balance of payments problems should be solved not by realignments of currencies but by asking surplus countries like the US and Belgium to inflate their economies (so they would import more). He was attacked for this by the US Secretary of the Treasury John Wesley Snyder and Camille Gutt (former Belgian finance minister and now managing director of the IMF). Dell argues that Gaitskell did not realise that other countries had their own domestic problems. In September 1950, with Britain's balance of payments now in surplus, Gaitskell negotiated British membership of the European Payments Union, meaning that instead of bilateral clearing, European currencies were to be convertible against one another even if not against the US dollar. Previously dollars had been needed for trade within Europe. Until then Gaitskell had shared concerns that some countries might stay in permanent deficit and thus effectively use their neighbours for free borrowing, or conversely that Belgium's surplus would enable her to suck gold and dollars from Britain. The EPU lasted until sterling was made convertible in 1958.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Although Gaitskell had until recently thought Bevan an inevitable future leader for the Labour Party, by the 1950 Party Conference (2 October) ""The Daily Telegraph"" political correspondent guessed correctly that he and Gaitskell were already fighting a proxy battle for the future leadership.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Cripps, whose health was still failing, had notified Attlee of his intention to resign as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 26 April 1950. He attempted to resign in the summer but was dissuaded by Gaitskell and Plowden because of the outbreak of the Korean War. He instead went on a long holiday, leaving Gaitskell in charge.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: It was now becoming clear that the US Congress was reluctant to help Britain meet the cost of rearmament. Gaitskell visited Washington in October 1950, his first visit there, just before becoming Chancellor. He warned that the terms of trade were shifting against Britain, and of the costs of rearmament.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In October 1950 Cripps finally resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dalton proposed Gaitskell for the vacancy. Sir Edward Bridges wanted Herbert Morrison, a political heavyweight; Morrison had been an early advocate of devaluation but did not regard himself as qualified. Gaitskell was appointed at the young age of 44, especially unusual as most of Attlee's Cabinet were in their sixties or older. He became the Chancellor with the shortest Parliamentary apprenticeship since Pitt the Younger in 1782. As Chancellor of the Exchequer he retained the same control over economic planning which Cripps had had. Both Cripps and Gaitskell insisted that Gaitskell be listed after Attlee, Bevin and Morrison in the official Cabinet pecking order.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Bevan was furious at Gaitskell being promoted over him, even though, as Gaitskell correctly guessed in his diary, he probably did not want the job himself. Gaitskell recorded that Bevan often asserted that Cripps had promised him the Exchequer.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The US Chiefs of Staff wanted an even greater increase in the British armaments budget to £6bn over three years, a plan backed by the British Chiefs of Staff and urged on Prime Minister Attlee on his visit to the US in Dec 1950. On his return from Washington Attlee told the House of Commons on 29 January 1951 that the defence budget was to be hiked to £4.7bn over the next three-year period, including a fourfold increase in munitions production. The defence budget was to increase from 8% to 14% of GNP, a proportion exceeded only by the US amongst NATO members. At the peak 2.5m people, 11% of the workforce, would be engaged in defence work.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: On his appointment, Gaitskell told William Armstrong, his Principal Private Secretary, that the main job over next few years would be the redistribution of wealth.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Rab Butler and Samuel Brittan, both writing in the early 1970s, commented that Gaitskell was the most technically qualified chancellor of the 20th century up until that date. However, Dell comments that he often went into excessive detail, including personally overseeing economic forecasts, and held excessively long meetings. This may have been from a love of micro-management or because, as an advocate of controls and planning, he was suspicious of treasury officials, whom he thought excessively inclined to free market mechanisms.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In December 1950, Gaitskell rejected the advice of Kim Cobbold (Governor of the Bank of England) and Hall that interest rates be raised, calling such a policy "completely antiquated".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Marshall Aid, which had totalled $3.1bn over previous three years, ended officially on 1 January 1951, although in practice it ended six weeks earlier. It was held that the balance of payments was now strong enough for it no longer to be necessary. Harold Wilson (President of the Board of Trade) and George Strauss (Minister of Supply) warned Gaitskell that the burden of rearmament was too much for the shortage of raw materials and manufacturing capacity, but Gaitskell ignored them as they were friends of Bevan. On 27 January 1951 Bevan was reshuffled to the Ministry of Labour with Health, now under Hilary Marquand, downgraded to a non-Cabinet appointment. Gaitskell welcomed the changes as reducing an obstacle to economies in health spending.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell still favoured discrimination in favour of sterling trade and was opposed to sterling convertibility, but was now a lot more pro-American since his October 1950 visit to Washington. By February 1951 he was strongly critical of anti-Americanism in cabinet.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Bevan's Commons speech on 15 February 1951 defended the extra £4.7bn on armaments, although most of his speech was a warning not to rearm too fast and that communism would be defeated through democratic socialism not through arms. Gaitskell the following day recorded his regret that for all Bevan's brilliance in oratory he should be "a difficult team worker, and some would say even worse – a thoroughly unreliable and disloyal colleague."


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell made the controversial decision to introduce charges for prescription glasses and dentures on the National Health Service in his spring 1951 budget. The Cabinet had agreed in principle in February 1951 to charges on teeth and spectacles. For 1951-2 Bevan was demanding £422m of health spending, whereas Gaitskell was willing to allow £400m. Gaitskell wanted to pass on half the cost of false teeth and spectacles, to bring in £13m in 1951-2 and £23m in a full year. Children, the poor and the sick were to be exempt. On 9 March Ernest Bevin was moved from the Foreign Office, dying a month later. Bevan, who had hoped to succeed him, was passed over for promotion to a major job for the second time in six months. By this point other ministers felt that Bevan was looking for an issue on which to resign, and that it was pointless making too many concessions as he needed to be made to appear to be in the wrong.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In addition, Purchase Tax was increased from 33% to 66% on certain luxury items such as cars, television sets and domestic appliances, while entertainment tax was increased on cinema tickets. At the same time, however, taxation on profits was raised and pensions increased to compensate retirees for a rise in the cost of living, while the allowances for dependent children payable to widows, the unemployed and the sick, together with marriage and child allowances, were also increased. In addition, a number of small items were removed from purchase tax, while the amount of earnings allowed without affecting the pension was increased from 20 shillings (£1) to 40 shillings (£2) a week. Besides taxing the better off and protecting pensions, Gaitskell actually increased NHS spending. The budget increased defence spending by £500m to £1.5bn for 1951–2, helped by a surplus inherited from Cripps and optimistic growth forecasts. Plans to introduce capital gains tax were postponed until 1952.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Prime Minister Attlee's initial reaction to the draft budget was that there were not likely to be many votes in it – Gaitskell replied that he could not expect votes in a rearmament year. Ernest Bevin did not like the idea of health charges and tried in vain to negotiate a compromise. Education Minister George Tomlinson suggested a repetition of the previous year's formula, a spending ceiling of £400m. Gaitskell was prepared to offer a delay in the introduction of charges but rejected the Tomlinson formula, despite Attlee's urgings, as the ceiling could not be achieved without charges. Attlee went into hospital to be treated for a duodenal ulcer on 21 March. From his sickbed he wrote what Kenneth O. Morgan calls a "remarkably vacuous letter" which "dealt with none of the substantive points at issue". At a Cabinet meeting on 22 March Gaitskell was dissuaded from his original intention to insist on prescription charges, as these might fall heavily on the genuinely sick.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell and Attlee warned of risks that the rearmament programme might not be fully implemented. Gaitskell warned the Economic Policy Committee (3 April 1951) of the shortage of machine tools, and stated that some could be imported from the US but that this would weaken the balance of payments.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: 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. Gaitskell, besides the obvious need for a new Chancellor to assert his authority, saw this as a deliberate attempt to publicly bounce the Cabinet, telling Dalton that Bevan's "influence was very much exaggerated" and that he might split the Labour Party as Lloyd George had the Liberals.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In two long Cabinet meetings on 9 April Bevan found himself supported only by Harold Wilson. Herbert Morrison, who was chairing the Cabinet whilst Attlee was being treated in hospital, again proposed a compromise that there be an agreed ceiling on public spending but no NHS charges. Gaitskell was determined that there would not be an open-ended commitment to welfare spending at the expense of economic investment or rearmament, and rejected Morrison's proposal. At the second meeting, Gaitskell threatened to resign, but quietly and without a public fuss, if he did not have the backing of the Cabinet; the resignation of the Chancellor on the eve of the budget would have caused a political crisis. Douglas Jay and others attempted in vain to persuade Gaitskell to compromise, but he refused, arguing that two members of the Cabinet should not be allowed to dictate to eighteen, although he agreed not to specify just yet the date at which the charges would come into effect. A final attempt by Attlee to negotiate a compromise from his sickbed (10 April) came to nothing. The affair brought Gaitskell close to physical and emotional collapse.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell won the admiration of Treasury officials for his stance: on the morning of the budget Sir Edward Bridges came to tell him of the respect he had earned in the department and that it was "the best day we have had in the Treasury for ten years". Gaitskell recorded that Bridges, Plowden, Leslie (Head of Information) and Armstrong were all urging him to stand firm and that he was "overcome with emotion" at Armstrong's words.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell's budget was praised at the time. His predecessor Stafford Cripps wrote to him praising him for not giving in to "political expediency", whilst he was supported in public by two younger MPs later to be staunch allies, Roy Jenkins and Anthony Crosland. After the budget Tony Benn, who was on the right of the Labour Party at that time, recorded the atmosphere at the party meeting (i.e. a meeting of Labour MPs) on 11 April as "sheer relief" that it had not been worse; the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) strongly supported the budget. However, Bevan soon rejected Gaitskell's proposed compromise that it be announced that the health charges were not be permanent as "a bromide". Bevan's ally Michael Foot wrote an editorial in "Tribune" comparing Gaitskell to Philip Snowden (the Chancellor whose cuts in 1931 had brought down the Second Labour Government, after which he and other leading members of the Cabinet entered into the Tory-dominated National Government). Bevan resigned on 21 April, as did Harold Wilson and John Freeman.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell defended his budget at the party meeting on 24 April. He said it was still too early to tell if the rearmament programme was actually achievable. Benn commented after the meeting on how Gaitskell's greatness arose from his combination of "intellectual ability and political forcefulness". Bevan then made an angry speech which did not impress many of the PLP.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Edmund Dell argues that neither Bevan nor Gaitskell emerge with much credit from the affair. "Gaitskell was obsessed by Bevan and by the need to establish his authority over him". Charges on false teeth and spectacles were "insignificant" in the context of the greater budget and "financially were neither here nor there" ... but Bevan was "impatient and arrogant and noisy and apparently intent on exhausting the tolerance of his cabinet colleagues". Gaitskell agreed to limit health charges to three years (subject to Parliament voting to extend them), made concessions on pensions to the Trade Union Group of MPs, and a diary entry suggests he was not happy about dividend constraints – yet he was not prepared to make significant concessions to Bevan. However, Dell argues that all chancellors have to make sticking points or they would have to give in to everybody. Gaitskell saw himself as defending the country and wanted to prove Labour a "responsible party of government", but the public were not yet aware of the looming inflation problem. Gaitskell told George Brown in 1960: "It was a battle between us for power – he knew it and so did I".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: John Campbell agrees that Bevan may have been partly right that Gaitskell, abetted by Morrison, was deliberately trying to drive him out of the Cabinet. Gaitskell believed that Labour had to be seen to govern with fiscal responsibility, telling Dalton on 4 May 1951 that he and Bevan were engaged in a battle for the soul of the Labour Party, and that if Bevan won Labour would be out for many years (although, ironically, Gaitskell won but they were out of power for many years anyway). Had Attlee not been sick, he might have been able to patch up a compromise.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Historian Brian Brivati believes that the importance of the charges was "irrelevant" to the huge cost of rearmament, which damaged Britain's recovery in the years which followed by absorbing earnings from exports.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: A £300m surplus in the British balance of payments in 1950 turned into a £400m deficit in 1951, the most sudden reversal on record up until that time. This was caused partly by businesses switching to rearmament rather than generating exports. The other reason was a deterioration in the terms of trade: higher oil prices after the Iranian oil crisis caused an outflow of dollars, whilst prices of wool, tin and rubber fell so the rest of the sterling area was not earning so many dollars from exports. By the second half of 1951 the overseas sterling area was importing from North America at double the 1950 rate. 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. By the second half of 1951 Gaitskell was worried about the political effect of the higher cost of living, but the "Financial Times" and "The Economist" accused him of using higher prices to choke off consumption and free up resources for rearmament instead of consumer goods production.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell again rejected Treasury advice to raise interest rates to cool the economy in June, July and August 1951. He argued that higher interest rates would be perceived as generating profits for the banks, which would not sit well with trade unions, and he was only prepared to consider demanding that the banks restrict credit. Gaitskell (diary 10 August 1951) stated that he and Morrison thought that Attlee had been too weak in dealing with Bevan. By August–September 1951 the Treasury were taken by surprise by a full-on sterling crisis, which they passed on to the incoming Conservative Government. Sterling was trading unofficially at $2.40, below the official rate of $2.80.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell visited Washington in the autumn of 1951, where he thought US Treasury Secretary John Wesley Snyder "a pretty small-minded, small town, semi-isolationist". A committee was formed, containing Plowden and Averell Harriman, to investigate the way in which US rearmament was absorbing and pushing up the prices of world raw materials. Gaitskell was horrified by Attlee's calling an election (19 September 1951) when he and Morrison were in North America. If Attlee had held on for another six or nine months Labour might have won. Labour lost the October 1951 General Election despite getting more votes than the Conservatives. Whilst the Bevanites blamed defeat on Morrison's policy of "consolidation", the right blamed Bevan for causing a split. Nobody imagined Labour would be out of power for more than a few years, and Attlee expected to be Prime Minister again by 1953.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: When the Conservatives returned to power, the new chancellor Rab Butler would get the balance of payments back into surplus in 1952 by cutting overseas spending, a measure which Dell suggests Gaitskell had not wanted to irritate the Americans by taking. In his memoirs ("Art of the Possible", p. 163) Butler later called him "a political mouse who, confronted with a gigantic deterioration in the balance of payments, responded by cutting a sliver off the cheese ration". After the Conservatives cut the armament plans in 1952 Crosland told people that Gaitskell had made him look like "a complete idiot" for supporting the budget in public. However, even by the end of 1951 there was less likelihood of the Korean War turning into a general war (the front line had stabilised, with the US administration being clear that they did not wish to escalate hostilities against China), so any government might have pared back defence spending in 1952.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In opposition, Gaitskell's house at Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, became a centre for political intrigue. At first Herbert Morrison still seemed likely to succeed Attlee as leader. This period was characterised by factional infighting between the 'Bevanite' left of the Labour party led by Aneurin Bevan, whose strength lay mainly in the constituency Labour Parties ("CLP"s) and the 'Gaitskellite' right who had the upper hand in the Parliamentary Party (Labour MPs – known collectively as the "PLP").


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In February 1952 Bevan led a rebellion of 56 other Labour MPs to vote against the Conservatives’ defence spending plans (the official Labour position was to abstain). Dalton recorded (11 March) that Gaitskell was, behind the scenes, keen for a showdown with Bevan. At the party meeting Bevan refused to agree to toe the party line, but the issue was defused by a conciliatory motion by the centrist "Keep Calm" group, passed against the wishes of the platform. Bevan at this time thought that Gaitskell should be reduced to "a junior clerk" in the next Labour Government. On 1 August 1952, when Gaitskell had succeeded in putting Churchill (Prime Minister at the time) on the ropes in a House of Commons debate, Bevan intervened to attack Gaitskell, an event greeted with Tory relief and according to Crossman "icy silence" on the Labour benches.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Dalton (30 September 1952) thought the Morecambe Party Conference "the worst … for bad temper and general hatred, since 1926" whilst Michael Foot thought it "rowdy, convulsive, vulgar, splenetic". A series of left-wing motions were passed. Bevanites took over the constituency section of Labour's National Executive Committee (the "NEC"): Bevan, Barbara Castle, Tom Driberg, Ian Mikardo and Harold Wilson took the top five places with Crossman seventh. Veteran right-wingers such as Herbert Morrison and Hugh Dalton were voted off, with Jim Griffiths in sixth place the only member of the Old Guard to survive; Shinwell, who as Minister of Defence was seen as responsible for the rearmament programme, had been voted off the previous year.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In a speech at Stalybridge (5 October 1952) Gaitskell alleged that "about one-sixth" of the constituency delegates "appeared to be Communist or Communist-inspired" and attacked "the stream of grossly misleading propaganda with poisonous innuendos and malicious attacks on Attlee, Morrison and the rest of us" published in "Tribune". He claimed that Labour was threatened by "mob rule" got up by "frustrated journalists" (a number of Bevanites, including Michael Foot and Tom Driberg, were journalists). He received strong backing from the TGWU whose block vote was of immense importance at the Labour Conference and which was able to exert pressure on its sponsored MPs to toe the party line.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Attlee then gave a speech at the newly built Royal Festival Hall demanding an end to groups within the party. After the PLP voted 188–51 to ban such groups Bevan insisted, over the wishes of Foot and Crossman, that the Bevanite group be disbanded. The Shadow Cabinet elections (elected by Labour MPs when the party was in opposition) were topped by Jim Griffiths and Chuter Ede. Gaitskell was in third place with 179 votes. Bevan, who had just challenged Morrison unsuccessfully for the Deputy Leadership, scraped on in twelfth and last place with 108 votes.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Tony Benn wrote of Gaitskell (24 September 1953) "he is intellectually arrogant, obstinate and patronising. I respect – but cannot quite admire – him".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Relations between Bevan and Gaitskell continued to be acrimonious. On one occasion in 1953, when Gaitskell called for unity at a Shadow Cabinet meeting, Bevan was observed to give him "a glare of concentrated hatred" and declared: "You’re too young in the movement to know what you’re talking about". Bevan resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in April 1954 over Labour's support for the setting-up of SEATO.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Bevan stood against Gaitskell for Party Treasurer, knowing he would likely lose but hoping to discredit union bosses Arthur Deakin and Tom Williamson in the eyes of rank-and-file trade union members. In the event even Sam Watson, leader of Bevan's own miners' union, supported Gaitskell. Gaitskell won by 4.3 million votes to 2 million. Bevan gave a speech to the "Tribune" party at the conference, declaring that the Labour Leader needed to be a "desiccated calculating machine". He was widely and probably wrongly thought to be referring to Gaitskell, to whom the label stuck. In fact it may well have been aimed at Attlee who had the previous day warned against "emotionalism" whilst privately Bevan thought that Gaitskell was highly emotional and, as he had shown in 1951, "couldn’t count".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In March 1955 Bevan, who had given no hint of disagreement with party policy at the party meeting a few days earlier, now challenged Attlee in a House of Commons debate to demand terms for use of the new H-Bomb in return for Labour's support for the weapon. He and 62 other abstained in the vote, leading to demands from loyalists that the party whip be withdrawn from him as a preliminary to him being formally expelled from the Labour Party by the NEC.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Writing a few days later, Gaitskell claimed to have felt that "sooner or later [Bevan] would have to go, but I was not sure whether this was the right moment" (19 March). However, Gaitskell told an audience at Doncaster that Bevan had made "a direct challenge to the elected Leader of our Party" and accused him of not being a team player. At a party meeting a few days later (16 March) Bevan accused Gaitskell of having told a direct lie against him and declared that it was "those hatchet-faced men sitting on the platform" who were undermining the leadership. After a lukewarm summing up by Attlee the PLP voted by 114–112 to withdraw the whip from Bevan.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell felt he had to follow the lead of the unions and pushed for Bevan's expulsion, telling Crossman (24 March) that Ian Mikardo was running a Bevanite organisation in the constituency parties to make Bevan leader. When Crossman interjected that Bevan "was only half wanting" to be leader, had not made any conspiracy against Attlee and was mainly concerned at voicing protests against Morrison and Gaitskell, the latter replied that "there are extraordinary parallels between Nye and Adolf Hitler. They are demagogues of exactly the same sort … There are minor differences but what is striking is the resemblance". Summoned to appear before an NEC sub-committee, Bevan refused to be "cornered by Gaitskell". In the event Gaitskell intervened only once at the meeting, asking Bevan to give a pledge that he would not attack the leader – Bevan refused as it was "a trap". Bevan's apology for his rebellion over the H-Bomb was accepted. Gaitskell described the result (2 April) as "a stalemate … my own position is no doubt weaker". Gaitskell thought the need to move against Bevan "dirty work" (April 1955).


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The May 1955 General Election was the first since 1931 in which Labour's vote had not increased. In "Tribune" on 21 June 1955 Gaitskell poured scorn on the idea that more left-wing policies (or, as he put it, policies more similar to those of the Communist Party) would have won Labour more votes. Campbell argues that "history overwhelmingly supports" Gaitskell's argument that elections are won by appealing to the centre ground rather than to a party's core base, tempting as the latter strategy often is to parties in opposition.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: At the Margate conference that autumn Gaitskell gave a stirring and well-received speech including an apparently unscripted passage stressing his own socialist credentials and arguing that nationalisation was still a "vital means" to achieving that end. Bevan was observed to be watching the speech "red-faced and furious" and complaining of Gaitskell's "sheer demagogy". In October 1955 Gaitskell was re-elected Party Treasurer by a wider margin over Bevan than the previous year.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The apparent congruence between Gaitskell's economic policies and those of his Conservative successor as chancellor Rab Butler, who had retained and extended NHS charges, was sometimes labelled "Butskellism" by the press. This view was not shared by Gaitskell himself, and after Butler's emergency "Pots and Pans" budget in October 1955, in which he reversed tax cuts made prior to the Conservatives' re-election at the General Election earlier that year, he attacked him strongly for allegedly having misled the electorate. Gaitskell won further praise for his attacks on Butler.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Following the retirement of Attlee as leader in December 1955, Gaitskell stood for party leader against Bevan and the ageing Herbert Morrison. At that time (and until 1981) the Labour Party leader was elected solely by MPs. In a final effort to stave off an inevitable Gaitskell victory, Bevan proposed that he and Gaitskell both withdraw in Morrison's favour, but Gaitskell rejected the offer. Gaitskell comfortably defeated Bevan (Morrison came a poor third) in the party leadership contest. 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.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell told a friend that "The leadership came to me so early because Bevan threw it at me by his behaviour", a view shared by Attlee and Harold Wilson. Gaitskell was very inexperienced for a party leader by the standards of the time. He offered Bevan a public olive branch at the party meeting after the result, promising that he would "not be outdone in generosity" if Bevan accepted the vote. Bevan agreed to do so, wishing Gaitskell "higher office".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Brivati writes that Gaitskell's 1951–55 "political performance … has not received the credit it deserves, for energy, for strategy and for sheer nerve".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In 1956 the Egyptian ruler Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company, beginning the Suez Crisis. Gaitskell initially told the Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan at a dinner with King Faisal II of Iraq on 26 July 1956, that they would have the support of public opinion for the use of military action against Nasser, but warned Eden that he must act quickly and would have to keep the Americans closely informed. Gaitskell denounced Nasser's action at 11am on 27 July in the House of Commons debate.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell's position became more cautious during the summer, and he suggested the dispute with Egypt should be referred to the United Nations. 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. He had believed Eden's assurances that he had no intention of using force. In two letters to Eden sent on 3 and 10 August Gaitskell condemned Nasser, but warned that he would not support any action that violated the United Nations charter. In his letter of 10 August, Gaitskell wrote: "Lest there should be any doubt in your mind about my personal attitude, let me say that I could not regard an armed attack on Egypt by ourselves and the French as justified by anything which Nasser has done so far or as consistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Nor, in my opinion, would such an attack be justified in order to impose a system of international control over the canal – desirable though this is. If, of course, the whole matter were to be taken to the United Nations and if Egypt were to be condemned by them as aggressors, then, of course, the position would be different. And if further action which amounted to obvious aggression by Egypt were taken by Nasser, then again it would be different. So far what Nasser has done amounts to a threat, a grave threat to us and to others, which certainly cannot be ignored; but it is only a threat, not in my opinion justifying retaliation by war."


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell passionately condemned the eventual Anglo-French military intervention to secure the Suez Canal, supposedly launched to enforce international law and to separate the Egyptian and Israeli combatants; the Israeli attack had in fact been launched in collusion with the British and French to supply a pretext for the invasion. On 31 October he publicly called the invasion "an act of disastrous folly" which threatened the Atlantic Alliance, the United Nations and Commonwealth solidarity. On 4 November 1956 Gaitskell gave a powerful broadcast, attacking the Prime Minister now it was clear Eden had been lying to him in private. Gaitskell was accused by the Conservatives of trying to appeal to the Labour Left, and of betrayal.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell's stance on Suez attracted some Liberal support. The pollster Mark Abrams convinced him of the need to broaden Labour's appeal by picking up anti-colonialist votes, but this would be a development of longer-term importance to the Labour Party. At the time Gaitskell was much-criticised in the press, especially for his ill-judged and unsuccessful plea for Tory dissidents to remove Eden from power. The Conservatives not only attacked Gaitskell as unpatriotic for failing to support British troops in action, but also tried to exploit perceived differences between Gaitskell and Bevan, who had rejoined the Shadow Cabinet earlier in the year and who had now been promoted to Shadow Foreign Secretary. Crossman noted that this forced Bevan to be loyal to Gaitskell (15 December 1956), making the two men allies of a kind.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell was a consensual leader in 1955–59, in contrast to his earlier and later image. Labour was widely expected to win the next General Election and in Campbell's view he arguably did not give a clear enough lead or attack the Conservatives aggressively enough.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell had initially believed nationalisation to be both morally right and economically efficient, and hoped in vain that manager-worker relations would be transformed. But in 1956 he published a Fabian pamphlet ""Socialism and Nationalisation"" (actually written three years earlier), arguing that there was no need for greater public ownership, and that his goals were full employment, industrial democracy and a greater spread of economic power. Gaitskell still supported physical controls and his views were a little to the left of those expressed by Anthony Crosland in ""The Future of Socialism"" (1956).


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Gaitskell's political philosophy became known as Gaitskellism, and from the late 1950s brought him into increasing conflict with the trade unions over nationalisation. Besides repudiating the unquestioned commitment to public ownership of the means of production, now seen as merely one of numerous useful devices, he emphasised the goals of personal liberty, social welfare and above all social equality. Gaitskellism tended to downplay loyalty to the Labour movement as a central ethical goal, and argued that the new goals could be achieved if the government used appropriate fiscal and social policy measures within the context of a market-oriented mixed economy. Gaitskell's cadre of supporters included Anthony Crosland, Roy Jenkins, Douglas Jay, Patrick Gordon Walker and James Callaghan.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Frank Cousins became General Secretary of the TGWU in 1956, beginning the process whereby the unions began to shift left. The 1957 Conference endorsed the document ""Industry and Society"", which called for more flexibility, including state purchase of shares in small private firms. This was loudly condemned by Bevan's wife Jennie Lee and by Michael Foot, editor of "Tribune" but out of Parliament at the time.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In the summer of 1959 Bevan supported Gaitskell on the NEC against Frank Cousins over unilateralism, which Bevan had opposed at the 1957 Conference, and nuclear tests (24 June 1959). Crossman believed Bevan could have overthrown Gaitskell (17 July 1959) and that both Bevan and Gaitskell thought Wilson an unprincipled careerist (13 August 1959). In the summer of 1959 Hugh and Dora Gaitskell, accompanied by Bevan, went to the USSR to copy Macmillan's recent successful trip.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: At Newcastle, with a General Election clearly imminent, Gaitskell pledged that Labour's spending plans would not require him to raise income tax, for which he was attacked by the Tories for supposed irresponsibility.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: During the 1959 election campaign Crossman thought Gaitskell had become "a television star" with Bevan "a rather faded elder statesman behind him" (22 September 1959). The Labour Party had been widely expected to win the 1959 general election, but did not. The Conservatives increased their majority, a fact partly attributable to the post-war prosperity that Britain was now experiencing. Gaitskell was undermined by public doubts about the credibility of proposals to raise pensions and by a highly effective Conservative campaign run by Harold Macmillan under the slogan "Life is better with the Conservatives, don't let Labour ruin it." This election defeat led to questions being asked as to whether Labour could ever win a general election again, but Gaitskell remained as leader.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Following the election defeat, bitter internecine disputes resumed. Gaitskell blamed the Left for the defeat and attempted unsuccessfully to amend Labour's Clause IV—which its adherents believed committed the party to further nationalisation of industry, while Gaitskell and his followers believed it had become either superfluous or a political liability.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: On the Tuesday after the election Gaitskell lunched "bibulously" with Bevan at Asheridge in the Chilterns to discuss his plans for party reform. At this time he had no plans to revise Clause IV. He told Crossman (19 October) that Bevan simply wanted to succeed Jim Griffiths as deputy leader and had shown no inclination to resist moderate policies. After initially expressing surprise, Gaitskell accepted Crossman's advice that Bevan be allowed a veto over any change to nationalisation policy.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: The November 1959 Conference, postponed because of the election, was already divided by rumours that Gaitskell was planning action over Clause IV. 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. Brivati writes that Clause IV was irrelevant in practice but Gaitskell had made "a frontal assault on … a Labour equivalent of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Bevan saw Gaitskell's speech in advance and made no objection to it at the time. Gaitskell did not rule out further nationalisation, but saw it as a means to an end, pouring scorn on the idea that Labour should be committed to nationalising "the whole of light industry, the whole of agriculture, all the shops, every little pub and garage". Bevan now claimed he had "misunderstood or misheard" what Gaitskell planned and was reported to be "absolutely livid" and "wondering whether to blow the whole thing wide open". In the end he made a conciliatory speech, mentioning that Barbara Castle (who had attacked Gaitskell's proposal) and Gaitskell had both quoted his own dictum that Socialism was about controlling the "commanding heights" of the economy. He argued that according to the principles of Euclid if two things are equal to a third thing they must both be equal to one another, and so there could not be any real difference between Castle and Gaitskell.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Benn wrote (28 November 1959): "Nye’s speech this afternoon was witty, scintillating, positive, conciliatory – the model of what a Leader should do. He didn’t knock Hugh out but he gently elbowed him aside". The cartoonist "Vicky" showed Gaitskell pedalling to Blackpool on a tandem with Bevan behind him – then pedalling back again but this time with Bevan in the front saddle (30 November 1959).


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: There was much talk that Bevan might now seize the party leadership, but it seems unlikely that he had the stomach for this anymore, not least as he had never wanted to be leader solely for its own sake. Gaitskell could no longer afford to quarrel with his deputy, and he enjoyed a position of great influence as keeper of the party's conscience, similar to, but much more powerful than, the position of John Prescott relative to Tony Blair forty years later. Moreover, by the end of 1959 Bevan was seriously unwell; he withdrew from the public eye and died in July 1960.


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: In March 1960 the NEC agreed a new statement of Labour's aims as an addition to Clause IV rather than a replacement. 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. The new proposal was demoted to a "valuable expression".


title: Hugh Gaitskell

text: Unilateral nuclear disarmament was increasingly popular amongst union activists and was also debated in several union conferences in the spring and summer of 1960. The great majority of the PLP supported NATO and multilateral disarmament.