When British Socialists in 1955 picked Hugh Gaitskell, now 53, to succeed the retiring Clement Attlee as head of the party, they applauded, but they did not cheer. The sad fact was that the longtime heir apparent, chirpy Herbert Morrison, was too old to take over. And the idol of the left, Aneurin Bevan, seemed too hotheaded. A compromise choice, Gaitskell found himself heading a party whose old-time religion had lost much of its appeal and whose leaders were perpetually torn between accommodating the conservative labor unions and the radical left wing while formulating a policy that would appeal to...
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