Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

==Party leader==
Following the retirement of Attlee as leader in December 1955, Gaitskell stood for party leader against Bevan and the ageing [[Herbert Morrison]]. At that time (and until 1981) the Labour Party leader was elected solely by MPs. In a final effort to stave off an inevitable Gaitskell victory, Bevan proposed that he and Gaitskell both withdraw in Morrison's favour, but Gaitskell rejected the offer.<ref>Campbell 2010, p227</ref> Gaitskell comfortably defeated Bevan (Morrison came a poor third) in the [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|party leadership contest]].<ref name="Matthew 2004, p.289" /> [[James Chuter Ede|Chuter Ede]] described the leadership election as "the political funeral of two of the greatest publicity mongers I've ever known," adding that Gaitskell had never actively sought publicity.<ref>Williams 1985, p367</ref>

Gaitskell told a friend that "The leadership came to me so early because Bevan threw it at me by his behaviour", a view shared by Attlee and [[Harold Wilson]]. Gaitskell was very inexperienced for a party leader by the standards of the time. He offered Bevan a public olive branch at the party meeting after the result, promising that he would "not be outdone in generosity" if Bevan accepted the vote. Bevan agreed to do so, wishing Gaitskell "higher office".<ref>Campbell 2010, p228</ref>

Brivati writes that Gaitskell's 1951–55 "political performance ... has not received the credit it deserves, for energy, for strategy and for sheer nerve".<ref name="Matthew 2004, p.289" />