Philip Snowden: The First Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer

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Frank Cousins became General Secretary of the TGWU in 1956, beginning the process whereby the unions began to shift left. Dora Frost (née Creditor), who came out to join him in Vienna for the latter part of his stay there.

Philip Snowden, First Viscount Snowden, the British politician, was a forthright and convincing speaker. Gaitskell warned the Economic Policy Committee (3 April 1951) of the shortage of machine tools, and stated that some could be imported from the US but that this would weaken the balance of payments. According to Michael Bloch, Gaitskell enjoyed a number of same-sex relationships while at Oxford, including with John Betjeman, and in the 1930s in Vienna, with John Gunther.At a Cabinet meeting on 22 March Gaitskell was dissuaded from his original intention to insist on prescription charges, as these might fall heavily on the genuinely sick.

He told Crossman (19 October) that Bevan simply wanted to succeed Jim Griffiths as deputy leader and had shown no inclination to resist moderate policies. In two letters to Eden sent on 3 and 10 August Gaitskell condemned Nasser, but warned that he would not support any action that violated the United Nations charter. At the same time, however, taxation on profits was raised and pensions increased to compensate retirees for a rise in the cost of living, [65] while the allowances for dependent children payable to widows, the unemployed and the sick, together with marriage and child allowances, were also increased. Campbell argues that "history overwhelmingly supports" Gaitskell's argument that elections are won by appealing to the centre ground rather than to a party's core base, tempting as the latter strategy often is to parties in opposition.The election had also seen the election of the first three female Labour MPs: Margaret Bondfield, Dorothy Jewson and Susan Lawrence. This would have been a rare honour as 263 of the 393 Labour MPs in 1945 were newly elected, but did not take place. Dalton helped him to be selected as candidate for South Leeds in 1937, and had it not been for the war, he would very likely have become an MP by 1940. Unilateral nuclear disarmament was increasingly popular amongst union activists and was also debated in several union conferences in the spring and summer of 1960.

On 21 July Gaitskell, Jay and Wilson met the Prime Minister to tell him that devaluation was inevitable as reserves were still dropping. Snowden was again appointed Chancellor after Labour formed a government in 1929, after emerging as the largest party in the general election.

The need for the breaking down of trade restrictions, which took various forms, was universally recognized even by those who were unable to throw off those shackles. The perceived similarity in his outlook to that of his Conservative Party counterpart Rab Butler was dubbed "Butskellism", initially a satirical term blending their names, and was one aspect of the post-war consensus through which the major parties largely agreed on the main points of domestic and foreign policy until the 1970s. Cripps was seriously unwell and had to go to Switzerland to convalesce on 18 July; Attlee announced that he was taking over Cripps' responsibilities with three young, financially able, ministers to advise him. Dalton was trying to score party points by claiming that he was reasserting political control over the City of London, a far-fetched claim as the Bank was already under political control.