Britain’s New Chancellor Of The Exchequer

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 14, 1 November 1950, Page 2

Britain’s New Chancellor Of The Exchequer

One of the claims made by the British Labour Party is that although it was founded largely on working class support it now represents a broader cross section of the community than any other party. The classic formula of “workers by hand and brain” is stretched to include within the Labour Party a great variety of people. This claim, of course, is disputed by other political parties, but the Labour Party points to such men as Mr Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer as proof of its catholicity.

For a man of his middle class origin and upbringing, odds were heavily in favour of his becoming a Conservative politician rather than a Labour Minister. He is the son of a member of the now disbanded Indian Civil Service—the select corps of British administrators whose devotion and efficiency enabled Britain to control India’s affairs for so long with so few people. Rudyard Kipling has fixed for ever a brilliant impression of their quality. Mr Gaitskell was sent, as one have expected, to Winchester, one of the most famous and one of the oldest schools in the country. From there he went on to New College, Oxford. The distinguished foundations put their stamp on him. He emerged with a public manner that is controlled, courteous, rational rather than emotional, and generally agreeable though perhaps a touch dogmatic. An acute observer watching him at work in the House of Commons as a Labour Minister said: “Winchester has done its work well —he might have sat on either side of the House.” I

This air of urbane detachment, of facility of mind that can grasp arguments on both sides of the case and can present either side with equal persuasiveness, is deceptive. Mr Gaitskell’s record shows that he deliberately chose one side rather than the other, and has worked for it in bad times, politically speaking as well as in good. Moreover, he is not a proletarian by origin and one must study his history to discover how he has become an important Minister in a Labour Government. For the Labour Party likes to be sure of a man's credentials before it awards him its trust.