GREAT BRITAIN AFTER HUGH, WHO ? THE DEATH OF HUGH GAITSKELL HAS 
LEFT BRITAIN'S OPPOSITION WITHOUT A SINGLE FIGURE WHO CAN BE COUNTED 
ON TO UNITE THE LABOR PARTY BEHIND HIM . WORSE YET, 
WITH ELECTION TALK IN THE AIR, LABORITES FEAR THAT NO LIKELY 
SUCCESSOR IS OF SUFFICIENT STATURE TO WIN IMMEDIATE NATIONAL ACCEPTANCE AS 
A POTENTIAL PRIME MINISTER . THE PARTY IS TORN BETWEEN TWO 
LEADING CONTENDERS WHO PERSONIFY THE WARRING EXTREMES WITHIN THE PARTY THAT 
TOOK HUGH GAITSKELL SEVEN TURBULENT YEARS TO PACIFY . TOP RIGHT-WING 
CANDIDATE IS DEPUTY LEADER GEORGE BROWN, AN EARTHY, ONETIME ERRAND BOY 
WHO INFURIATES LEFTIST INTELLECTUALS BY ADDRESSING THEM AS " BROTHER . 
" BROWN, 48, IS A STAUNCH ANTI-COMMUNIST, A FIRM BELIEVER IN 
THE WESTERN ALLIANCE, AND, UNTIL GAITSKELL COMMITTED THE PARTY TO AN 
ANTI-EUROPEAN LINE, WAS A VIGOROUS ADVOCATE OF BRITISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE 
COMMON MARKET . GUTTY, IMPULSIVE, OFTEN EXPLOSIVELY GAUCHE, BROWN HAS HAD 
LITTLE FORMAL EDUCATION OR TOP-LEVEL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE, BUT IS A KNOWLEDGEABLE 
DEFENSE EXPERT WHO CRITICIZED BRITAIN'S COMMITMENT TO THE SKYBOLT MISSILE AS 
FAR BACK AS 1960 . HIS MOST IMPRESSIVE ENDORSEMENT CAME LAST 
WEEK FROM THE PRESTIGIOUS ECONOMIST, WHICH ARGUED THAT CRITICISMS OF HIS 
QUICK TEMPER AND IMPATIENCE WITH TECHNICAL DETAIL " COULD ALSO HAVE 
BEEN LEVIED AGAINST WINSTON CHURCHILL . " UNLIKE GAITSKELL, WHOSE POLITICAL 
PHILOSOPHY WAS BASED ON AN ESSENTIALLY OUT-OF-DATE VIEW OF AN " 
INSULAR AND DOWNTRODDEN ENGLAND, " ARGUED THE WEEKLY, BROWN'S SOCIALISM IS 
THAT " OF AN AGE WHEN INTELLIGENT THRUSTERS HAVE LEARNED TO 
LOOK FORWARD IN OPPORTUNITY . " / LITTLE HAROLD . " 
LABOR'S LEFT WING SUPPORTS HAROLD WILSON, 46, AN ADROIT, URBANE DEBATER 
AND TOPNOTCH INTELLECT WHO WAS AN OXFORD ECONOMICS DON AT 21 
. AS PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE IN CLEMENT ATTLEE'S 
CABINET, PIPE-PUFFING YORKSHIREMAN WILSON HAS HAD MORE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE THAN ANY 
OF HIS RIVALS, IS THE PARTY'S FOREIGN POLICY SPECIALIST . DESPITE 
HIS BRILLIANCE AND CHARM, WILSON'S FOES, WHO CALL HIM " LITTLE 
HAROLD, " REGARD HIM AS A SLIPPERY OPPORTUNIST WHO BACKS ONLY 
WINNING CAUSES THOUGH HE MISCALCULATED IN 1960 WHEN HE ATTEMPTED TO 
GRAB THE LEADERSHIP WHILE GAITSKELL WAS FIGHTING FOR HIS POLITICAL LIFE 
AGAINST THE PARTY'S POWERFUL ANTI-NATO BLOC . BROWN DEFEATED WILSON FOR 
THE DEPUTY LEADERSHIP, 133 TO 103, LAST YEAR . BUT THIS 
TIME BROWN HAS AN ADDED CHALLENGE : JAMES CALLAGHAN, 50, WHO 
ALSO HAS STRONG MIDDLE-ROAD AND RIGHT-WING SUPPORT . A NAVAL PETTY 
OFFICER'S SON WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER IN 
A GAITSKELL CABINET, " STOKER " CALLAGHAN IS A HARD-BOILED DEBATER 
AND EFFECTIVE TV PERFORMER, BUT IS REGARDED BY MANY COLLEAGUES AS 
A LIGHTWEIGHT . TO PREPARE FOR THE CHANCELLORSHIP, HE HAS BEEN 
CRAMMING WITH SOME OF OXFORD'S BRIGHTEST YOUNG DONS, WHO PRIVATELY RATE 
HIM " B OR B-PLUS . " HE IS AN ENGAGING, 
HARD-WORKING POLITICIAN, AND MANY OF BROWN'S SUPPORTERS FEAR THAT HE MAY 
SPLIT THE RIGHT-WING VOTE . IN A DEADLOCK, HE COULD EVEN 
EMERGE AS LABOR'S LEADER . FOE'S WOES . THE CHOICE OF 
AN EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION LEADER HAS SELDOM SEEMED MORE IMPORTANT TO THE 
LABOR PARTY OR TO THE NATION PARTICULARLY SINCE GOVERNMENTAL POWER IN 
BRITAIN HAS IN RECENT YEARS INCREASINGLY MOVED FROM THE COMMONS AND 
THE CABINET INTO THE HANDS OF THE PRIME MINISTER . ADMITTEDLY, 
THE LIKELIHOOD OF A LABOR PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEAR FUTURE 
HAS BEEN DIMMED BY GAITSKELL'S DEATH . ON THE OTHER HAND, 
THE TORIES HAVE LITTLE IMMEDIATE CAUSE FOR CONFIDENCE : ON TOP 
OF CHARLES DE GAULLE'S BRUSQUE REJECTION OF THE GOVERNMENT'S BID FOR 
COMMON MARKET MEMBERSHIP, UNEMPLOYMENT THE MOST CRUCIAL ISSUE IN BRITISH POLITICS 
TODAY HAS JUMPED AN ALARMING 25 PER CENT IN ONE MONTH, 
REACHING A 16-YEAR RECORD OF 814,632 (PARTLY DUE TO LAYOFFS IN 
THE BITTER WINTER WEATHER) . LABOR'S LEADER WILL PROBABLY NOT BE 
CHOSEN UNTIL MID-FEBRUARY . LABORITES HOPED THAT TORY SETBACKS WOULD GIVE 
THEM TIME TO DEVELOP A WINNING PERSONALITY WHO COULD KEEP THEIR 
PARTY UNITED . 