Butler, Richard Austen

Butler, Richard Austen (b. India, 9 Dec. 1902; d. 8 Mar. 1982) British; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1951–5, leader of Commons 1955–61, Home Secretary 1957–62, Foreign Secretary 1963–4; Baron (life peer) 1965 R. A. Butler (‘Rab’) was born into a family notable for its academic scholarship and diplomatic service. His father was a governor of an Indian province and then master of a Cambridge college. He was a ‘nearly man’ of British politics, twice narrowly failing to become Conservative Prime Minister, in 1957 and 1963, even though the media regarded him as favoured choice on both occasions. He was educated at Marlborough and Cambridge University. As if this provenance was not prestigious enough Butler married into the great wealth of the Courtauld family and became MP for the safe seat of Saffron Walden in 1929.

Butler served under seven Conservative Prime Ministers, starting with MacDonald down to Home. He occupied a junior post in the early 1930s and was responsible for the Government of India Act (1935), which granted a large measure of self-government to India. He became second in command at the Foreign Office at the time of the appeasement of Nazi Germany 1938–9; he was a member of the House of Commons, while the actual Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax was in the House of Lords. Winston Churchill recognized his talents and kept him on in government 1940–5.

One of Butler's outstanding achievements was the 1944 Education Act, which he introduced as president of the Board of Education during the wartime coalition government. This is sometimes called the Butler Act and shaped secondary schooling in Britain for the next forty years. It raised the school-leaving age to 15 and provided free secondary schooling for all. After the Conservative's election defeat in 1945 Butler's posts as chairman of the party's Research Department and of the Industrial Policy Committee—which led to the Industrial Charter—made him a key figure in reshaping Conservative policy in the years 1945–51. The party came to terms with the electorate's demand for a positive government role in promoting welfare and full employment.

When Churchill was recalled as Prime Minister in 1951, Butler was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. He presided over a number of tax-cutting budgets and an improvement in living standards. His reputation for financial prudence was damaged when he cut taxes in a pre-election give-away budget in 1955 and then had to introduce another, tougher post-election budget in autumn.

Churchill's successor as premier, Anthony Eden, made Butler leader of the House of Commons in 1955. Butler's doubts about the wisdom of the invasion of Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal in 1956 harmed his chances of succeeding Eden when the latter stepped down as Prime Minister. When Eden was ill and abroad Butler was in charge of the government and had to order the withdrawal of British troops from Egypt. When Eden resigned senior figures in the party advised the Queen to send for Macmillan in January 1957. He was a liberal Home Secretary (1957–62), introducing prison reforms, changing the laws on prostitution and gambling, but did not manage to achieve abolition of capital punishment. Harold Macmillan piled other duties on him, making him chairman of the party and minister in charge of central African affairs.

When Macmillan was ill and preparing to resign in 1963 Butler was the favourite to succeed. In the end, however, thanks to some manipulation by Macmillan, it was Home who was sent for. Home refused to accept the Queen's commission to form a Cabinet until Butler agreed to join—a mark of the latter's indispensability. To the disappointment of some of his supporters Butler accepted and became Foreign Secretary. He was not prepared to split the party to gain the ultimate prize. Perhaps he did not want the leadership as intensely as others did.

Butler had a number of legislative achievements to his credit. But above all he was responsible for influencing the direction of post-war Conservative policy. He is often seen as the main exponent of One-Nation, or progressive, Conservatism and a shaper of the post-war consensus. His values were dominant in the Tory Party until Mrs Thatcher arrived on the scene. He was a witty man, once praising Eden to a journalist with ‘He is the best Prime Minister we have’.

He retired from politics in 1965 and became Master of Trinity College, a post he held until 1978. His memoirs, The Art of the Possible, were published in 1971.