Ed Butler son of Sir Adam Butler MP and grandson of Conservative politician Richard Austen "Rab" Butler. Ed Butler Brigadier Edward Adam Butler CBE, DSO (born 27 February 1962) is a former British Army officer who commanded Task Force Helmand. Educated at Eton College and the University of Exeter, Butler was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in August 1984. He was mentioned in dispatches for his service in Northern Ireland in November 1991, received the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service for his service in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia in Autumn 1997 and received the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service again
Rab Butler government" and to "kiss hands": formally accept appointment as Prime Minister. The Queen is thought to have privately preferred Home, whom she knew well socially, to Butler although that did not influence the decision. The Palace were aware that Home could not form a government without Butler serving although Home himself later said that he could have formed a government without Butler but not without Maudling. Some, including Macmillan, argued that Butler's vacillation was further proof of his unfitness to be Prime Minister. Lord Poole commented that "if you had seen him yesterday morning, dithering about in a gutless sort