Evening star., 1963-01-19
GAITSKELL
,Laborite Leaders Death
Comes at Time of Crisis
Continued From Page Al

COHJlnueu FROM rage Al
and a series of international
setbacks.
Mr.. Macmillan would be TAX
ing a big gamble If he were to
plunge into an election with a
haste that could make people
think he is exploiting Labor's
bereavement.
The full impact of Mr.. Cats
kells death is sure to be felt
on the Labor Party.
Mr.. Gaitskell subdued ex-
treme right and left wing ele-
ments Of his party and created
an image of balance, resolve
and authority. He typified the
compromises which bound the
rambling labor movement into
a sort Of popular front. Few
of Mr.. Gaitskelrs lieutenants
have displayed these qualities.
Deputy Leader George Brown,
representing the right, and
foreign affairs spokesman Har-
old Wilson, representing the
left, were seen as leading con-
tenders to succeed Mr.. Cats
kell.
Fiscal expert James Callag- /
han and home affairs special |
ist Patrick Gordon Walker
were seen as compromise can
didates from the party's mid
dle-of-the-road bloc.
Intellectual LabOrite
AS a brand image for the
British Labor Party, Hugh Gait
skell was about as far removed |
from greasy hands and monkey
wrenchesa a dancing instruc-
tor on a Saturday night date.
He was an intellectual, a
graduate of the school of bright
young men who seem to have
taken over the party from the
cloth capped trade unionists
and pit boys. His background |
was impeccably upper middle
class.
Mr.. Gaitskell Joined the La
bor Party from conviction and
from no sense of downtrodden |
necessity. He entered Parlia-
ment for the first time as late |
as 1945 and his rise from then |
was as swift and sure as any,
thing known to the long his
tory of British politics.
Within two years, he was
minister of fuel and power. In
1850 at the politically tender
age of A, he succeeded Stafford
Cripps as the youngest Chan
cellor of the Exchequer in near
ly half-a-century.
Headed Party in 1855
Then, with the fall of Glenn
ent Attlee's government, came
the long years of Laborite op-
position, and Mr.. Gaitskell -
brushing past the apparently
weightier qualifications of 9TH
er claimants - became leader
Of the Labor Party in 1855. In
this post he indured a series of |
personal crises and finally tri-
umphed after a bout of politi- |
cal infighting as tough as any,
thing in the party's history.
In the end, he emerged on top
of the heap. Even his sternest |
critics recognized that no one
else on the political left wing
could match his equipment as
Prime Minister-in-waiting In
the event of the Conservative
governments fall.
Mr.. Gaitskell was academic
rather than dynamic in appear
ance. He had a full head of
wavy hair, a sharp nose, a mis-
leadingly irresolute chin and
the pursed mouth of a prim,
frustrated school marm. His
oratory was rarely sparkling
but always concise.
He struck one as a reason
able man with a solid back
ground of scholarship and a
flare for presenting a complex
political issue in concise If un-
dramatic terms.
He was a happily married
family man with a family of
two lively young daughters -
Julia, %, and Cressida, 20. His
wife Anna was of Russian-Jew-
ish parentage and a solid prop
in the domestic wings through
out his stormy political career.
Mr.. Gaitskell was a modest
man. Throughout his term as