Editing Aneurin Bevan (section)

==Opposition==
[[File:Aneurin Bevan and his wife Jenny Lee in Corwen (15368872658).jpg|thumb|Aneurin Bevan speaking in [[Corwen]] in 1952]]
Bevan's last decade saw his political position weaken year by year as he failed to find a winning issue that would make use of his skills.{{sfn|Krug|1961}} In 1952 Bevan published ''[[In Place of Fear]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=In Place of Fear A Free Health Service 1952|date=13 March 1952|url=http://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/the-sma-and-the-foundation-of-the-national-health-service-dr-leslie-hilliard-1980/aneurin-bevan-and-the-foundation-of-the-nhs/in-place-of-fear-a-free-health-service-1952/|publisher=Socialist Health Association|access-date=21 December 2013}}</ref> "the most widely read socialist book" of the period, according to a highly critical right-wing Labour MP [[Anthony Crosland]].{{sfn|Crosland|1956|p=52}} According to ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'', the book was a "[[dithyramb]] with meanderings into the many side-tracks of Mr Bevan's private and public experience".{{sfn|Kynaston|2009|p=82}} In the opening page of the book, Bevan begins: "A young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with the one practical question: Where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, and how can it be attained by the workers?"<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.questia.com/read/94943071/in-place-of-fear |title=In Place of Fear |last=Bevan |first=Aneurin |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=1 |year=1952 |isbn= |access-date=28 July 2019 |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728144152/https://www.questia.com/read/94943071/in-place-of-fear |url-status=dead }}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In March 1952, a poorly prepared Bevan came off the worse in an evening Commons debate on health with Conservative backbencher [[Iain Macleod]], whose performance led Churchill to appoint him as Minister of Health some six weeks after the debate.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Addison|title=Churchill on the Home Front, 1900–1955|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khkXKJO0uYoC&pg=RA1-PT458|year=2013|publisher=Faber & Faber|pages=1–2|isbn=9780571296408}}</ref>

Out of office, Bevan soon exacerbated the split within the Labour Party between the right and the left which weakened the party in the 1950s.{{Sfn|Thorpe|1997|p=133-135}} For the next five years, he was the leader of the left wing of the Labour Party, who became known as [[Bevanites]]. They criticised the right-wing "[[Gaitskellites]]" high defence expenditure (especially for [[nuclear weapons]]), called for better [[United Kingdom-Soviet Union relations|relations with the Soviet Union]], and opposed the party leader, Clement Attlee, on most issues. According to [[Richard Crossman]], Bevan hated "the in-fighting which you have to do in politics.... He wasn't cut out to be a leader, he was cut out to be a prophet".{{sfn|Kynaston|2009|p=81}} In April 1954, Bevan resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, having been rebuked by Attlee after accusing the Labour leader of surrendering to American pressure over a proposed [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization|multi-national defence organisation in Asia and the Pacific]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRxmN3 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan for Back Bench |newspaper=The Times |page=8 |date=15 April 1954 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> He later said that he had resigned his position to "call attention to the fact that their movement was in grave crisis", and stated his belief that he would have been party chairman by the following year if he had remained.<ref name="ev25">{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRy4f6 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan's 25 Years as Ebbw Vale M.P. |newspaper=The Times |page=5 |date=29 November 1954 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> In July of the same year, Bevan announced his intention to stand for election as the [[Treasurer of the Labour Party]] against [[Hugh Gaitskell]]. His nomination received a severe blow on the same day it was announced, when two unions that traditionally sided with the left, the [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)|National Union of Mineworkers]] and the [[Amalgamated Engineering Union]], pledged their support for his opponent.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRxsb9 |url-access=subscription |title=Treasureship of the Labour Party |newspaper=The Times |page=8 |date=8 July 1954 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Although unsuccessful in his bid, he did celebrate 25 years as the MP for Ebbw Vale.<ref name="ev25"/>

In March 1955, when Britain was preparing for [[Operation Grapple]], the testing of its first [[hydrogen bomb]], Bevan led a revolt of 57 Labour MPs and abstained on a key vote.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRcxw2 |url-access=subscription |title="Tribune" Defence of Mr. Bevan |newspaper=The Times |page=4 |date=11 March 1955 |access-date=27 July 2019 |via=The Time Digital Archive}}</ref> The Parliamentary Labour Party voted 141 to 113 to withdraw the [[Whip (politics)|whip]] from him, but it was restored within a month, due to his popularity.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRcyn2 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan Not Expelled |newspaper=The Times |page=3 |date=21 April 1955 |access-date=27 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> After the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]], Attlee retired as Labour leader. Bevan [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|contested the leadership]] against both [[Herbert Morrison|Morrison]] and Labour right-winger Gaitskell, but it was Gaitskell who emerged victorious with more than half of the ballots.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRyHkX |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Gaitskell Elected Labour Leader |newspaper=The Times |page=10 |date=15 December 1955 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Bevan's remark that "I know the right kind of political Leader for the Labour Party is a kind of desiccated calculating machine" was assumed to refer to Gaitskell, although Bevan denied it (commenting upon Gaitskell's record as Chancellor of the Exchequer as having "proved" this). Bevan also failed in a bid to become deputy leader, losing out to [[Jim Griffiths]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRyUh5 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. J. Griffiths's Majority of 30 |newspaper=The Times |page=8 |date=3 February 1956 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> He instead stood again for the role of party treasurer and was duly elected, beating [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRySP0 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan's Triumph in Party Ballot |newspaper=The Times |page=10 |date=3 October 1956 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref>

Despite Bevan's criticism of the new party leader, Gaitskell decided to appoint him as Shadow Colonial Secretary,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRyZk0 |url-access=subscription |title=Opposition Front Bench Duties |newspaper=The Times |page=8 |date=15 February 1956 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> and then Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1956. Bevan was as critical of [[Nasserist Egypt]]'s seizure of the [[Suez Canal]] on 26 July 1956 as he was of the [[Suez Crisis|subsequent Anglo-French military response]]. He compared [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] with [[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]], from ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''.<ref>Callaghan, John, ''British Labour Party and International Relations Socialism and War'', p. 233.</ref> He was a vocal critic of the Conservative government's actions in the [[Suez Crisis]], noticeably delivering high-profile speeches at a protest rally in [[Trafalgar Square]] on 4 November 1956, and criticising the government's actions and arguments in the Commons on 5 December 1956. Bevan accused the government of a "policy of bankruptcy and despair",<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956">{{cite web |title=Aneurin Bevan 1956 |work=New Statesman |date=4 February 2010 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/02/aneurin-bevan-1956-speech |access-date=22 August 2011}}</ref> stating at the Trafalgar rally: <blockquote>We are stronger than Egypt but there are other countries stronger than us. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of [[Anthony Eden|Eden]] and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? If we are going to appeal to force, if force is to be the arbiter to which we appeal, it would at least make common sense to try to make sure beforehand that we have got it, even if you accept that abysmal logic, that decadent point of view.<br /><br />We are in fact in the position today of having appealed to force in the case of a small nation, where if it is appealed to against us it will result in the destruction of Great Britain, not only as a nation, but as an island containing living men and women. Therefore I say to Anthony [Eden], I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.<br /><br />They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only one way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956"/></blockquote>

Bevan dismayed many of his supporters when he suddenly reversed his opposition to nuclear weapons.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Dorey|title=The Labour Governments 1964–1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YR3Il4gD4X8C&pg=PA12|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=12|isbn=9780203327227}}</ref> Speaking at the 1957 Labour Party conference, he decried [[unilateral nuclear disarmament]], saying "It would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference-chamber". This statement is often misconstrued: Bevan argued that unilateralism would result in Britain's loss of allies, and one interpretation of his metaphor is that nakedness would come from the lack of allies, not the lack of weapons.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Callaghan|title=The Labour Party and Foreign Policy: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7y1nYPOIocC&pg=PA225|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=225|isbn=9780203647127}}</ref> According to the journalist [[Paul Routledge]], [[Donald Bruce, Baron Bruce of Donington|Donald Bruce]], a former MP and [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] and adviser to Bevan, had told him that Bevan's shift on the disarmament issue was the result of discussions with the Soviet government, where they advised him to push for British retention of nuclear weapons so they could possibly be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200505300005 |title=Nye Bevan's sensational secret |access-date=13 October 2008 |last=Routledge |first=Paul |date=30 May 2005 |magazine=New Statesman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705015356/http://www.newstatesman.com/200505300005 |archive-date=5 July 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1957, Bevan, [[Richard Crossman]] and the Labour Party's General Secretary [[Morgan Phillips]] sued ''[[The Spectator]]'' magazine for [[libel]], after one of its writers described them as drinking heavily during an Italian Socialist Party conference. The article wrote that the three men:
<blockquote>...puzzled the Italians by their capacity to fill themselves like tanks with whisky and coffee...  Although the Italians were never sure the British delegation were sober, they always attributed to them an immense political acumen.</blockquote>
The three won their case, and obtained financial damages of £2,500 each.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRyyq6 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan and Others Awarded £2,500 Each |newspaper=The Times |page=6 |date=23 November 1957 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Crossman later acknowledged that they had [[perjured]] themselves to do so.<ref>[[Roy Jenkins]] wrote of his former colleagues (in "Aneurin Bevan" in ''Portraits and Miniatures,'' 2011) that they "sailed to victory on the unfortunate combination of Lord Chief Justice Goddard's prejudice against the anti-hanging and generally libertarian ''Spectator'' of those days and the perjury of the plaintiffs, subsequently exposed in Crossman's endlessly revealing diaries."  Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote (in ''The Guardian'', 18 March 2000, "Lies and Libel"): "Fifteen years later, Crossman boasted (in my presence) that they had indeed all been toping heavily, and that at least one of them had been blind drunk." Dominic Lawson wrote (in ''[[The Independent]]'', "Chris Huhne's downfall is another example of the amazing risks a politician will take". 4 February 2013): "Crossman's posthumously published diaries revealed that the story was accurate; and in 1978, [[Brian Inglis]] on ''[[What the Papers Say]]'' revealed that Crossman had told him a few days after the case that they had committed perjury". Mihir Bose (in "Britain's Libel Laws: Malice Aforethought", ''History Today'', 5 May 2013) quotes Bevan's biographer, John Campbell, to the effect that the case had destroyed the career of the young journalist involved, Jenny Nicholson.</ref>

Bevan was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1959, succeeding Griffiths.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRz9JX |url-access=subscription |title=Labour Leaders Elected |newspaper=The Times |page=6 |date=24 October 1959 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> His last speech in the House of Commons, in the debate of 3 November 1959 on the [[Queen's Speech]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1959-11-03a.860.1#g860.7|date=3 November 1959 |journal=Hansard |publisher=Theyworkforyou.com |volume=612 |page=Columns 860–985 |title=Debate on the Address |issue=House of Commons Debate|access-date=13 December 2009}}</ref> referred to the difficulties of persuading the electorate to support a policy which would make them less well-off in the short term, but more prosperous in the long term.