Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

=== Promotion to the Chancellorship ===
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.<ref name="Dell 1997, p.133">Dell 1997, p.133</ref>

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.<ref name="Dell 1997, p.144">Dell 1997, p.144</ref>

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.<ref>Dell 1997, p.135-7</ref> 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 [[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt the Younger]] in 1782.<ref>Campbell 2010, p199</ref> 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.<ref name="Dell 1997, p.136" />

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.<ref>Campbell 2010, pp.204-5</ref> Gaitskell recorded that Bevan often asserted that Cripps had promised him the Exchequer.<ref name="Dell 1997, p.567" />

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.<ref name="Dell 1997, p.143-4" />