1955 Labour Party leadership election

1955 Labour Party leadership election

14 December 1955 (1955-12-14)

Candidate Hugh Gaitskell Aneurin Bevan Herbert Morrison Popular vote 157 70 40 Percentage 58.8% 26.2% 15.0%

Leader before election Clement Attlee Elected Leader Hugh Gaitskell

The 1955 Labour Party leadership election was held following the resignation of Clement Attlee. Attlee was Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951 and stayed on as party leader until he lost the 1955 general election.

Candidates

Despite his advancing age and Labour's loss of the 1951 general election, Labour Party Leader Clement Attlee delayed his retirement from politics in order to keep the Labour Party united during its fracture between Gaitskellite and Bevanite factions. He also did not want Deputy Leader Herbert Morrison to assume full Leadership. Aneurin Bevan had been considered a primary front-runner for eventual Labour Party leadership, but had resigned from the Cabinet in 1951 to protest the introduction of National Health Service prescription charges. Hugh Gaitskell simultaneously emerged as a potential candidate after a successful tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer and after the trade union movement which had backed Bevan increasingly gravitated towards him.

Three candidates were nominated:

1. The left wing candidate was the father of the National Health Service, former Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan (born 1897). Bevan had represented the Welsh constituency of Ebbw Vale since 1929.
2. The younger candidate from the right wing of the party was Hugh Gaitskell (born 1906), former Chancellor of the Exchequer (1950–1951). Gaitskell had been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South since 1945.
3. Former Deputy Prime Minister Herbert Morrison (born 1888), who had been deputy leader as well as having served in the senior ministerial offices of Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, was also seeking the leadership. Morrison, the leading London politician of his generation, had been an MP since 1923 (with some breaks) and was representing Lewisham South in 1955.

Ballot

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 14 December was as follows:

Only ballot: 14 December 1955
Candidate	Votes	%
Hugh Gaitskell	157	58.8
Aneurin Bevan	70	26.2
Herbert Morrison	40	15.0
Majority	87	32.6
Turnout	267	96.4
Hugh Gaitskell elected

References

• Butler, David; Butler, Gareth (2000). Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900–2000 (8th ed.). Macmillan Press.
• Stenton, M.; Lees, S., eds. (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979. Harvester Press.