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1960 Labour Party leadership election: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|none}}
{{Infobox Election▼
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
|election_name = Labour Party leadership election, 1960▼
▲{{Infobox Electionelection
|country =
▲|election_name = 1960 Labour Party leadership election, 1960
|flag_image = <!-- File:Red flag.svg -->
|type = presidential
|ongoing = no
|previous_election = 1955 Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1955
|previous_year = 1955
|next_election = 1961 Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1961
|next_year = 1961
|election_date = {{Start date|1960|11|3|df=yes}}
 
<!--Hugh Gaitskell-->
|image1 = [[File:HughgaitskellHugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell.jpg|160x160px]]
|image1_size = 160x160px
|candidate1 = '''[[Hugh Gaitskell]]'''
|colour1 = DC241F
|popular_vote1 = '''166'''
|percentage1 = '''67.2%'''
 
<!--Harold Wilson-->
|image2 = [[File:Harold Wilson Number 10 official.jpg|160x160px]]
|image2_size = 160x160px
|candidate2 = [[Harold Wilson]]
|colour2 = DC241F
|popular_vote2 = 81
|percentage2 = 32.8%
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|after_election = [[Hugh Gaitskell]]
}}
{{Harold Wilson sidebar}}
 
The '''1960 Labour Party leadership election''' was held when, for the first time since 19351955, the incumbent leader [[Hugh Gaitskell]] was challenged for re-election. Normally the annual re-election of the leader had been a formality. Gaitskell had lost the [[1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959|1959 general election]] and had seen the Labour Party conference adopt a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament which he considered disastrous and refused to support. A vacancy in the deputy leadership was first made by the death of incumbent [[Aneurin Bevan]].
 
==Background==
 
Following the heavy defeat of the Labour Party in the [[1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959|1959 general election]], its leader [[Hugh Gaitskell]] had determined that the party must change fundamentally to make itself electable. He decided to attempt to rewrite [[Clause IV]] of the party constitution, which appeared to commit it to [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] of every industry.<ref>Philip Williams, "Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography", Jonathan Cape, 1979, pp. 544-9.</ref> However his move provoked firm opposition from the major unions and the left-wing of the party, and facing certain defeat, he withdrew it in March 1960.<ref>Williams, p. 570.</ref> In the meantime the Government's decision to abandon the British [[Blue Streak (missile)|Blue Streak missile]] and buy instead the US [[GAM-87 Skybolt|Skybolt]] system had made nuclear weapons a prominent political issue. Gaitskell supported the decision to buy an American system and to remain in NATO, a policy stance which outraged the left.<ref>Williams, p. 579-80 and 587-88.</ref> At the party conference in Scarborough in October 1960, motions calling for unilateral [[nuclear disarmament]] were carried despite Gaitskell's speech declaring that he and his allies would "fight and fight and fight again to save the Party we love".<ref>Williams, p. 610-13.</ref>
 
Elections for the Leader and Deputy Leader were formally held by the [[Parliamentary Labour Party]] at the beginning of each Parliamentary session, which happened later in October. There was already a vacancy for the Deputy Leader of the Party due to the death of [[Aneurin Bevan]] in July, and many senior party figures were weighing up whether to stand for that post; contested elections for vacant posts were usual, but incumbents were not normally challenged. The result of the faction-fighting was that many on the left thought Gaitskell was both out of touch with the party and that a challenge might force him to the left, so they were keen to have a credible challenger.<ref>Williams, p. 624.</ref> One left candidate who was keen to fight for the deputy leadership was [[Harold Wilson]], who found himself subjected to pressure to challenge Gaitskell instead. [[Peter Shore]], then head of the Research Department at party headquarters, thought Gaitskell had lost the confidence of party staff and Wilson could restore it. [[Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge|Jennie Lee]], Bevan's widow and a fellow Labour MP, led a delegation to Wilson.<ref>[[Andrew Roth]], "Sir Harold Wilson: Yorkshire Walter Mitty", Macdonald & Janes, 1977, p. 249.</ref>
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* [[Hugh Gaitskell]] (born 1906), had been MP for [[Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds South]] since 1945 and served as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in 1950-1951. Gaitskell was elected party leader in 1955. He was aligned with the right wing of the party.
* [[Harold Wilson]] (born 1916), the MP for [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] from 1945–19501945 to 1950 and for [[Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)|Huyton]] since 1950, had been [[Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills|President of the Board of Trade]] from 1947 but resigned from the [[Clement Attlee|Attlee]] cabinet in April 1951 in opposition to [[National Health Service]] prescription charges (which Gaitskell had introduced in order to pay for the [[Korean War]]). Wilson had been a [[Bevanism|Bevanite]] in the early 1950s but had returned to the front bench and served as Shadow Chancellor under Gaitskell's leadership.
 
==Ballot==
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{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
|-
! colspan="43"|Only ballot: 3 November 1960
|-
! colspan="2" style="width: 170px"|Candidate
! style="width: 50px"|Votes
! style="width: 40px"|%
|-
|-
! style="background-color: {{Labour Party (UK)/meta/color}}" |
| style="width: 170px" | '''[[Hugh Gaitskell]]'''
| align="right" | '''166'''
| align="right" | '''67.2'''
|-
! style="background-color: {{Labour Party (UK)/meta/color}}" |
| style="width: 170px" | [[Harold Wilson]]
| align="right" | 81
| align="right" | 32.8
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align:right"| Majority
| align="right" | 85
| align="right" | 34.4
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align:right"| Turnout
| align="right" | 229
| align="right" | ''N/A''
|-
| colspan="43" | Hugh Gaitskell re-elected
|}
 
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{{UK Labour Party}}
{{Hugh Gaitskell|state=collapsed}}
{{Harold Wilson}}
 
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) leadership elections|1960]]
[[Category:1960 elections in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Hugh Gaitskell]]
[[Category:1960 political party leadership elections|Labour Party leadership election]]
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