Editing Denis Healey (section)

===Member of Parliament===
Healey was elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as MP for [[Leeds South East]] at a [[1952 Leeds South East by-election|by-election in February 1952]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.by-elections.co.uk/52.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225141840/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/52.html|title=1952 By Election Results|archive-date=25 February 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=13 August 2015}}</ref> with a majority of 7,000 votes. Following constituency boundary changes, he was elected for [[Leeds East]] at the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]], holding that seat until he retired as an MP in 1992. During these years, Healey was close friends with the Rev. Canon [[Ernest Southcott]], and Douglas Gabb, who would go on to become [[Lord Mayor of Leeds]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/AlfGoesToWork ''Alf Goes To Work'' (1960)]</ref>

He was a moderate on the right during the series of splits in the Labour Party in the 1950s. He was a [[Gaitskellism|supporter]] and friend of [[Hugh Gaitskell]], Leader of the Labour Party. He persuaded Gaitskell to temper his initial support for British military action in 1956 when the [[Suez Canal]] was seized by the [[Nasserist Egypt]], resulting in the [[Suez Crisis]].<ref name="davidmckie">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/03/lord-healey|title=Lord Healey obituary|author=McKie, David|work=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref> In [[1959 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election|1959]] he was elected on to the [[Shadow Cabinet of Hugh Gaitskell|Shadow Cabinet]] where he was made the deputy to the [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]], [[Aneurin Bevan]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Labor Shadow Cabinet Puts Young Members In Key Posts |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vSpgAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=shadow+Denis+Healey&article_id=5600,2119633&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD7aPj2fuMAxWci_0HHWWhOn4Q6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=shadow%20Denis%20Healey&f=false |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=Saskatoon Star-Phoenix |agency=Reuters |date=16 November 1959 |location=London |page=12}}</ref>

When Gaitskell died in 1963, he was horrified at the idea of Gaitskell's volatile deputy, [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]], leading Labour, saying "He was like immortal Jemima; when he was good he was very good but when he was bad he was horrid". In the [[1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|1963 Labour Party leadership election]], he voted for [[James Callaghan]] in the first ballot and [[Harold Wilson]] in the second. Healey thought Wilson would unite the Labour Party and lead it to victory in the next general election. He didn't think Brown was capable of doing either. He was appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]] after the creation of the position in 1964.