Rab Butler - Post-war

Post-war

After the Conservatives were defeated in the 1945 general election, Butler emerged as one of the most prominent figures during the rebuilding of the party. He served a record term as Chairman of the Conservative Research Department from 1945 to 1964. When the Conservative party returned to power in 1951, he was appointed to the senior post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Butler followed to a large extent the economic policies of his Labour predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell, pursuing a mixed economy and Keynesian economics as part of the post-war political consensus. The Economist commented on these similarities by referring to a hybrid Chancellor, "Mr Butskell", from which the term Butskellism derives.

Butler planned to move to system of free-floating the pound ("Operation ROBOT"), but it was scuppered by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in a rare intervention of his in domestic politics. Eden feared that the inflation and the unemployment would make the move political suicide.

In 1953, Butler acted as head of the Government when Winston Churchill suffered a stroke, whilst his successor Anthony Eden was undergoing an operation overseas. Many have speculated that Butler could have become Prime Minister had he persuaded Churchill to retire at this point, but Butler lacked the ruthlessness that would have been necessary to accomplish this. He may have been concerned about opposition to a "Man of Munich" becoming Prime Minister. Churchill slowly recovered and retired in 1955, handing power to Eden with no controversy.

Butler's career did not prosper under Eden, about whom a number of Butler's sardonic witticisms surfaced. He described Eden as "half mad Baronet, half beautiful woman" and once agreed with a journalist that Eden was "the best Prime Minister we have". His penultimate budget slashed taxation immediately before the 1955 general election but soon afterwards it became apparent that the economy was "overheating" (inflation and the balance of payments deficit were rising sharply), and his final budget undid several of the tax cuts, leading to charges of electoral opportunism. In December 1955, Butler was moved to the post of Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons.

Although Butler continued to act as a deputy for Eden on a number of occasions, he was not officially recognised as such and his successor as Chancellor, Harold Macmillan, was assured by Eden that Butler was not senior to him.

Still, this Butler chaired the Cabinet in Eden's absence. However, Butler's stock stumbled during the Suez Crisis, particularly during Eden's absence in Jamaica, during which time Butler was seen to give weak leadership.