Editing Hugh Gaitskell (section)

== Death ==
In mid-December 1962, Gaitskell fell ill with [[Influenza|flu]], but he was declared well enough by his doctor to travel to the [[Soviet Union]], where he met the Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] for talks. Upon his return to Britain his condition deteriorated after he contracted another virus. On 4 January 1963 he was admitted to [[Middlesex Hospital]] in [[Marylebone]], where, despite efforts by doctors to save his life, he died on 18 January, with his wife at his bedside. He had died from complications following a sudden flare-up of [[lupus]], an [[autoimmune disease]], which had affected his heart and kidneys. He was 56.<ref>{{cite news|title=1963: Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18/newsid_3376000/3376971.stm|website=bbc.co.uk|date=18 January 1963|publisher=BBC|access-date=4 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Howse" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Hugh Gaitskell|url=http://www.lupus.org.uk/news-events/celebrity/315-hugh-gaitskell|publisher=St. Thomas' Lupus Trust|access-date=4 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915143607/http://www.lupus.org.uk/news-events/celebrity/315-hugh-gaitskell|archive-date=15 September 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Gaitskell's body was cremated at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] on 23 January 1963. His ashes are buried in the churchyard of [[St John-at-Hampstead|St John-at-Hampstead Church]], north London. His wife died in 1989 and was buried alongside him.

Gaitskell had inherited £14,000 (around £800,000 at 2015 prices) from an aunt in April 1938, which was invested for him by a friend in the City and multiplied several times (at a time of relatively high inflation). Gaitskell appears to have largely ignored this sum of capital, and his wife had no idea of his wealth.<ref>Williams 1985, p80</ref> His estate was valued for probate at £80,013-10s-0d on 23 April 1963 (around £1.7m at 2020 prices).<ref name="Matthew 2004, p.293">Matthew 2004, p.293</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php|title=Measuring Worth – Measures of worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331194822/https://measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php|archive-date=31 March 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The shock of Gaitskell's death was comparable to that of the sudden death of the later Labour Party leader [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]] in May 1994, when he too seemed to be on the threshold of Number 10.<ref name="Campbell 2010, p241" />

Beginning with his time as a minister under Attlee, Gaitskell kept a diary until 1956. The diary is an important primary source for the politics of the era.<ref>Campbell 2010, p.235</ref>

===Conspiracy theories===
Gaitskell's death left an opening for [[Harold Wilson]] in the party leadership; Wilson narrowly won the next [[1964 United Kingdom general election|general election]] for Labour 21 months later. The abrupt and unexpected nature of Gaitskell's death led to some speculation that [[crime|foul play]] might have been involved. The most [[Harold Wilson conspiracy theories|popular conspiracy theory]] involved a supposed Soviet [[KGB]] plot to ensure that Wilson (alleged by the supporters of these theories to be a KGB agent himself) became prime minister. This claim was given new life by [[Peter Wright (MI5 officer)|Peter Wright]]'s controversial 1987 book ''[[Spycatcher]]'', but the only evidence that ever came to light was the testimony of a Soviet [[Defection|defector]], [[Anatoliy Golitsyn]]. [[MI5]] repeatedly investigated Wilson over the course of several years before conclusively deciding that he had no relationship with the KGB.<ref>{{cite news|title=The 30 greatest conspiracy theories - part 2, 16 to 30|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3483652/The-30-greatest-conspiracy-theories-part-2.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3483652/The-30-greatest-conspiracy-theories-part-2.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=13 July 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>