Rab Butler

The Right Honourable The Lord Butler of Saffron Walden KG CH PC DL
Butler in 1963
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
De facto 13 July 1962 – 18 October 1963
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Anthony Eden (de facto)
Succeeded by	William Whitelaw (de facto)
First Secretary of State
In office 13 July 1962 – 18 October 1963
Prime Minister	Harold Macmillan
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	George Brown (1964)
Ministerial offices 1951–⁠1964 Foreign Secretary In office 20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964 Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Alec Douglas-Home Succeeded by Patrick Gordon-Walker Home Secretary In office 14 January 1957 – 13 July 1962 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Preceded by Gwilym Lloyd George Succeeded by Henry Brooke Chairman of the Conservative Party In office 14 October 1959 – 9 October 1961 Leader Harold Macmillan Preceded by The Viscount Hailsham Succeeded by Iain Macleod Leader of the House of Commons In office 20 December 1955 – 9 October 1961 Prime Minister Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan Preceded by Harry Crookshank Succeeded by Iain Macleod Lord Privy Seal In office 20 December 1955 – 14 October 1959 Prime Minister Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan Preceded by Harry Crookshank Succeeded by The Viscount Hailsham Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 28 October 1951 – 20 December 1955 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Preceded by Hugh Gaitskell Succeeded by Harold Macmillan
Ministerial offices 1941–⁠1945 Minister of Labour and National Service In office 25 May 1945 – 26 July 1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Ernest Bevin Succeeded by George Isaacs Minister of Education (President of the Board, 1941–1944) In office 20 July 1941 – 25 May 1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Herwald Ramsbotham Succeeded by Richard Law
Shadow offices Shadow Foreign Secretary In office 16 October 1964 – 27 July 1965 Leader Alec Douglas-Home Shadowing Patrick Gordon Walker Michael Stewart Preceded by Patrick Gordon-Walker Succeeded by Reginald Maudling Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 10 December 1950 – 28 October 1951 Leader Winston Churchill Shadowing Hugh Gaitskell Preceded by Oliver Stanley Succeeded by Hugh Gaitskell
Parliamentary offices Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden In office 30 May 1929 – 19 February 1965 Preceded by William Mitchell Succeeded by Peter Kirk Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 19 February 1965 – 8 March 1982
Personal details
Born	Richard Austen Butler (1902-12-09)9 December 1902 Attock Serai, British India  (now Attock, Pakistan)
Died	8 March 1982(1982-03-08) (aged 79) Great Yeldham, Essex, England
Resting place	St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouses	Sydney Elizabeth Courtauld ​ ​ (m. 1926; died 1954)​ Mollie Courtauld ​ ​ (m. 1959)​
Children	4, including Adam (by Sydney Courtauld)
Parent	Montagu Sherard Dawes Butler (father)
Academic background
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge
Academic work
Institutions	Pembroke College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Main interests	Languages History International law

Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician; he was effectively deputy prime minister to Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, although he only held the official title for a brief period in 1962–63. He was one of his party's leaders in promoting the post-war consensus through which the major parties largely agreed on the main points of domestic policy until the 1970s; it is sometimes known as "Butskellism" from a fusion of his name with that of his Labour counterpart, Hugh Gaitskell.

Born into a family of academics and Indian administrators, Butler had a distinguished academic career before he entered Parliament in 1929. As a junior minister, he helped to pass the Government of India Act 1935. He strongly supported the appeasement of Nazi Germany in 1938 to 1939.

Entering the Cabinet in 1941, he served as President of the Board of Education (1941–1945) and oversaw the Education Act 1944. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1951, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1951–1955), Home Secretary (1957–1962), First Secretary of State (1962–1963) and Foreign Secretary (1963–1964). Butler had an exceptionally long ministerial career and was one of only two British politicians (the other being John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon) to have served in three of the four Great Offices of State but never to have been prime minister for which he was passed over in 1957 and 1963. At the time, the Conservative leadership was decided by a process of private consultation, rather than by a formal vote.

After retiring from politics in 1965, Butler was appointed Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and served until 1978. He died of colon cancer in 1982.