Rab Butler Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), generally known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative politician. "The Times" obituary called him "the creator of the modern educational system, the key-figure in the revival of post-war Conservatism, arguably the most successful chancellor since the war and unquestionably a Home Secretary of reforming zeal." 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
Rab Butler 18 February 2009, at the age of 101. In his autobiography, "The Art of the Possible", Butler attributed his political gifts to his grandmother Mary Kendall of Pelyn, Lostwithiel, Cornwall. He wrote a lengthy paragraph on the Kendall family, who had served in Parliament since 1368 and had been active in politics for many generations. It has been remarked of this family that they have perhaps sent more members to the British Parliament than any other in the United Kingdom. Butler spent a brief period as a don at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1925, and gave lectures on the