Mr Gaitskell won 157 votes in the ballot of Labour MPs. His opponents, Aneurin Bevan and Herbert Morrison, received 70 and 40 votes respectively.

He was the clear favourite to win the leadership race and achieved 47 votes more than his opponents' combined total thus securing election on the first ballot.

Mr Morrison announced his resignation as deputy leader of the party once the result was known.

Great responsibility

Since Mr Attlee's resignation over party divisions, Mr Morrison has stood in as acting leader. But at the age of 67 he was thought unlikely to win the leadership contest.

Mr Gaitskell, 49, comes from the right wing of the party and has the backing of the unions. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1950 to 1951.

The results of the ballot were announced at 1900 GMT this evening in a committee room at the House of Commons.

After his election, Mr Gaitskell took the chair and began by thanking party members: "It is not only a great honour but a great responsibility as well. I can only say that I will try to discharge this in such a way as to justify the confidence of the party.

He also paid tribute to Mr Attlee - and Mr Morrison: "All of us, I think, have a deep feeling of sadness that he has decided to resign from the position of deputy leader. He is a man who has served the party and country in the most devoted manner for well over 30 years.

"There is no use denying that we shall miss very much his wise counsel and his great experience, just as we shall miss those qualities in Mr Attlee."

The election of a new deputy leader will be postponed until after the Christmas parliamentary recess.

Divisions

James Griffiths, a former miner, aged 65, who held office in the last two Labour governments has emerged as the most likely front-runner.

It is not yet clear whether Mr Bevan will stand for the deputy leadership. Relations between him and Mr Gaitskell have been tested in the past.

In 1951 Mr Bevan resigned from the Cabinet over Mr Gaitskell's decision to introduce charges on dentures and spectacles, items which had previously been free on the NHS, in order to pay for re-arming to fight the Korean war.

At a news conference this evening, Mr Gaitskell was asked about divisions within the party. He told reporters he thought there was a "very much better spirit now" in the party and in the country as a whole.

	E-mail this story to a friend