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 respect Churchill after serving under him. Butler was reappointed to his Foreign Office job on 15 May 1940. On 17 June 1940, three days after the Fall of Paris and the day Marshal Petain asked for an armistice, Butler had a mysterious meeting in St James's Park with the Swedish trade envoy Dr Björn Prytz. The meeting continued for a few minutes in the Foreign Office, during which Butler conferred briefly with Lord Halifax in his office. Prytz reported back to Stockholm that Butler had declared that British policy must be determined by "common sense not bravado" (the phrase was