Editing Harold Wilson (section)

===Three ambitious young men===
In mid-1949, with Chancellor of the Exchequer [[Stafford Cripps]] having gone to Switzerland in an attempt to recover his health, Wilson was one of a group of three young ministers, all of them former economics dons and wartime civil servants, convened to advise Prime Minister Attlee on financial matters. The others were [[Douglas Jay]] ([[Economic Secretary to the Treasury]]) and [[Hugh Gaitskell]] ([[Minister of Fuel and Power]]), both of whom soon grew to distrust him. Jay wrote of Wilson's role in the debates over whether or not to devalue sterling that "he changed sides three times within eight days and finished up facing both ways". Wilson was given the task during his Swiss holiday of taking a letter to Cripps informing him of the decision to devalue, to which Cripps had been opposed.<ref>Dell 1997, pp. 120, 122.</ref> Wilson had tarnished his reputation in both political and official circles.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Although a successful minister, he was regarded as self-important. He was not seriously considered for the job of Chancellor when Cripps stepped down in October 1950—it was given to Gaitskell—possibly in part because of his cautious role during devaluation.<ref>Dell 1997, p. 137.</ref><ref>Pimlott (1992) pp 133–153.</ref>

Wilson was becoming known in the Labour Party as a left-winger, and joined [[Aneurin Bevan]] and [[John Freeman (British politician)|John Freeman]] in resigning from the government in April 1951 in protest at the introduction of [[National Health Service]] (NHS) medical charges to meet the financial demands imposed by the [[Korean War]]. At this time, Wilson was not yet regarded as a heavyweight politician: [[Hugh Dalton]] referred to him scornfully as "Nye [Bevan]'s dog".<ref>Campbell 1987, p. 233.</ref>

After Labour lost the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 election]], he became the Chairman of Keep Left, Bevan's political group. At the bitter Morecambe Conference in late 1952, Wilson was one of the [[Bevanites]] elected as constituency representatives to Labour's [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|National Executive Committee]] (NEC), whilst senior right-wingers such as Dalton and [[Herbert Morrison]] were voted off.<ref>Campbell 1987, p. 275.</ref>