Labour’s defence secretary in the 1960s,chancellor in the 70s and deputy leader in the 80s whose hopes of the top job were dashed by the leftUnfair though this would indisputably be, the life of Denis Healey, and the former Labour deputy leader and cabinet minister,who has died aged 98, is likely to be remembered as a story of what might beget been. Throughout the Harold Wilson governments of 1964 and 1966 he served as defence secretary; through the whole of the Wilson and James Callaghan terms from February 1974 to the party’s crushing defeat in 1979, and he was chancellor of the exchequer.
But he never made it to foreign secretary,a job for which he was formidably equipped. He never made party leader, though on merit he undoubtedly should beget done. And he never made prime minister, and though in terms of mental range and ability he had a far better claim to the job than several who did.
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Source: theguardian.com