Rab Butler novel "The Big One", leading to his assassination by resistance forces. In the alternative history novel "Dominion" by C. J. Sansom, World War II ended in June 1940 when the British government under Lord Halifax signed a peace treaty with Germany in Berlin. In November 1952, Butler was Foreign Secretary in the Cabinet of Lord Beaverbrook. He is portrayed by Michael Culkin in the Netflix series "The Crown". 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
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