Cripps returned to London on 18 August to be greeted by two memoranda from Gaitskell. One was a short paper advising a general election that autumn after devaluation. Cripps did indeed make that recommendation to Attlee, but it was rejected. The second paper was ten pages on devaluation, which in Edmund Dell’s view it is unlikely he actually read. Gaitskell argued that with employment high, the balance of payments in decent shape and inflation a containable problem, the "only" problem was shortage of dollars, with US opinion very reluctant to help the UK any more. He recommended spending cuts to keep inflation under control – but did not say how much. He also recommended that sterling initially float within a band of $2.80-$2.60, a proposal discussed with Hall and Plowden. He recommended devaluation by 4 September, but rejected the idea that currencies become fully convertible – in the way that John Maynard Keynes had advocated at the Bretton Woods Conference – as this might prevent governments protecting full employment. Dell argues that Gaitskell’s memo was full of the impatience of a young man at his elders clinging to office, but that on the other hand he himself had been slow to recognise the need for devaluation. Gaitskell and Wilson met with Attlee, Ernest Bevin and Cripps at Chequers on 19 August, and Bevin and Cripps agreed with some reluctance to devaluation. The decision was finally confirmed by the Cabinet on 9 August, although Cripps rejected Gaitskell’s plan for a floating band. Devaluation (from $4.03 to $2.80) was announced on Sunday 18 September after a secret Cabinet meeting the day before. Many other countries followed suit, so it was mainly UK trade with dollar-using countries which was affected.