GAITSKELL GETS SOLID SUPPORT AS LEADER

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29245, 1 July 1960, Page 16

GAITSKELL GETS SOLID SUPPORT AS LEADER

(N.Z Press Association-Copyright)

LONDON, June 29. The British Opposition Leader (Mr Hugh Gaitskell) today scored a major victory over Leftwing Socialists who have been sniping at his leadership of the party. He won a vote of confidence by an overwhelming 179 votes to 7 at a private meeting of Labour members of Parliament. Eighteen members either abstained or were absent when the vote was taken. Today’s move was the climax of a determined bid by Labour “loyalists” to end recurrent personal attacks, mainly from the left-wing, on Mr Gaitskell. Authoritative Labour sources said it foreshadowed- no disciplinary action against critics, including the "victory for socialism” group, a part-parliamen-tary organisation which recently passed a “Gaitskell must go resolution. Mr GaitskeU’s victory leaves the 54-year-old leader with several big hurdles to cross if between now and October, when the Labour Party’s annual conference meets, he is to reimpress his authority on the movement. . ... Ahead are big challenges to his defence policy, now opposed by the leaders of several giant trade unions and many, left-wing Socialists. . It awaits—and is expected to receive—the backing of the leaders of the 8,000,000-member Trades Union Congress on Friday. But it will still be resisted by powerful individual trade union leaders headed by the sec-

retary of the transport workers (Mr Frank Cousins) whose union has 1,000,00 votes at Labour’s annual conference, by the 670,000-strong Amalgamated Engineering Union, and by other unions. Facing Mr Gaitskell also is sectional Socialist opposition to a leadership suggestion for slightly modifying the Labour constitution’s approach to State ownership policy. Advocates of full-blooded socialism were alarmed by the proposal which, while reaffirming traditional Labour policy on nationalisation, would now have automatically assumed a wholesale take-over of more industries. Mr Gaitskell today told his M.P. supporters that, whoever the party leader was, he must be ably to rely on the full backing of the parliamentary party without which his position would be impossible.