Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

=== 1953–54 ===
[[Tony Benn]] wrote of Gaitskell (24 September 1953) "he is intellectually arrogant, obstinate and patronising. I respect – but cannot quite admire – him".<ref name="Campbell 2010, p222">Campbell 2010, p222</ref>

Relations between Bevan and Gaitskell continued to be acrimonious. On one occasion in 1953, when Gaitskell called for unity at a Shadow Cabinet meeting, Bevan was observed to give him "a glare of concentrated hatred" and declared: "You're too young in the movement to know what you're talking about".<ref>Campbell 2010, p221</ref> Bevan resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in April 1954 over Labour's support for the setting-up of [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization|SEATO]].<ref name="Campbell 2010, p222" />

Bevan stood against Gaitskell for [[Treasurer of the Labour Party|Party Treasurer]], knowing he would likely lose but hoping to discredit union bosses [[Arthur Deakin]] and [[Tom Williamson, Baron Williamson|Tom Williamson]] in the eyes of rank-and-file trade union members. In the event even [[Sam Watson (trade unionist)|Sam Watson]], leader of Bevan's own miners' union, supported Gaitskell. Gaitskell won by 4.3 million votes to 2 million. Bevan gave a speech to the ''Tribune'' party at the conference, declaring that the Labour Leader needed to be a "desiccated calculating machine". He was widely and probably wrongly thought to be referring to Gaitskell, to whom the label stuck. In fact it may well have been aimed at Attlee who had the previous day warned against "emotionalism" whilst privately Bevan thought that Gaitskell was highly emotional and, as he had shown in 1951, "couldn't count".<ref>Campbell 2010, p222-3</ref> The Treasurership election was seen as particularly important as it was lining up a successor to Attlee, whose retirement was clearly fairly imminent.<ref>Pelling 1992, p235</ref>