Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1955
Encyclopedia
The British Labour Party leadership election of 1955 was held following the resignation of Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

. Attlee had been Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 1945—1951 and had stayed on as leader of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 until he lost the 1955 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...

.

Candidates

Three candidates were nominated.
  1. The left wing candidate was the father of the National Health Service
    National Health Service
    The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

    , former Minister of Health
    Secretary of State for Health
    Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...

    , Aneurin Bevan
    Aneurin Bevan
    Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...

     (born 1897). Bevan had represented the Welsh constituency of Ebbw Vale since 1929.
  2. The younger candidate from the right wing of the party was Hugh Gaitskell
    Hugh Gaitskell
    Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...

     (born 1906), who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer
    Chancellor of the Exchequer
    The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

     1950-1951. Gaitskell had been MP for Leeds South
    Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)
    Leeds South was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election...

     since 1945.
  3. A veteran right wing Labour minister Herbert Morrison
    Herbert Morrison
    Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...

     (born 1888), who had been deputy leader as well as having served in the senior ministerial offices of Home Secretary
    Home Secretary
    The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

     and Foreign Secretary, was also seeking the leadership. Morrison, the leading London politician of his generation, had been an MP since 1923 (with some breaks) and was representing Lewisham South
    Lewisham South (UK Parliament constituency)
    Lewisham South was a parliamentary constituency in Lewisham, London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.- Boundaries :...

    in 1955.

Ballot

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 14 December was as follows:
Only Ballot: 14 December 1955
Candidate Votes %
Hugh Gaitskell 157 58.80
Aneurin Bevan 70 26.22
Herbert Morrison 40 14.98
Majority 87 32.58
Turnout 267 96.39
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