ABSTRACT
At the height of his powers Gaitskell died, in London on 18 January 1963, 108 days after his anti-Common Market speech. He is remembered for his assertive and confrontational style of leadership, which was not always in tune with the more working-class sentiments of the then Labour Party. His objective of revising the Labour Party, and particularly its commitment to Clause Four, failed because of trade union opposition although he won the day on the need for multilateral nuclear disarmament and with his opposition to the Common Market. His modernizing approach to the Party was, however, carried forward by later leaders such as Neil Kinnock, John Smith and even, to some extent, by Tony Blair.
