Draft:Shadow Cabinet of Hugh Gaitskell

In December 1955, Hugh Gaitskell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer was elected as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party, replacing former Prime Minister Clement Attlee, the longest serving leader of the Labour Party. Attlee had stepped down as leader after having led it to a defeat in the 1955 general election, the fifth election Labour had fought under him during his 20-year long leadership.

In the subsequent leadership election, Gaitskell defeated left-wing firebrand and former Health Minister Aneurin Bevan and deputy leader Herbert Morrison (who had been serving as acting leader since Attlee's resignation).

Gaitskell was to hold this position, notwithstanding the defeat in the 1959 election until his untimely death in January 1963, whereupon his successor Harold Wilson would lead the party to victory in 1964. During the course of his tenure, he was known for his attempts at reforming the Labour Party such as the attempt to remove Clause IV. He also prevented an attempt to adopt unilateral nuclear disarmament as Labour Party policy, and stood opposed to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's attempt to lead the UK into the European Common Market.

He had played a major role in reviving the popularity of Labour among the masses following the electoral debacles of 1955 and 1959 and at the time of his demise, the Labour Party was well placed to win the next general election. Harold Wilson who succeeded him as Leader of the Opposition and Labour Leader in February 1963 would go on to win the next general election and become Prime Minister ending the party's thirteen year stint in the opposition.