79-570: Progressive Conservative may refer to an advocate of progressive conservatism . Progressive Conservative may also refer to: Current Defunct Progressive conservatism Progressive conservatism is a political ideology that attempts to combine conservative and progressive policies. While still supportive of capitalist economy, it stresses the importance of government intervention in order to improve human and environmental conditions. Progressive conservatism first arose in Germany and
158-601: A mixed economy and Keynesian economics as part of the post-war political consensus. The name " Butskellism ", referring to the generally similar economic policies pursued by both Conservative and Labour governments, was coined partly in response to Butler's extension of Gaitskell's NHS charges in 1952, the issue over which Aneurin Bevan and other Labour left-wingers had resigned in April 1951. In 1954, The Economist published an editorial headed "Mr Butskell's Dilemma", which referred to
237-498: A Swedish envoy , Björn Prytz . Prytz later reported to Stockholm that Butler had declared British policy must be determined by "common sense not bravado" and that had "assured me that no opportunity for reaching a compromise (peace) would be neglected" if there were reasonable conditions. Churchill was furious when he found out, probably through intelligence intercepts of Swedish diplomatic cables. He wrote to Halifax on 26 June complaining of Butler's "odd language", which hinted at
316-506: A big department. He recorded that after December 1955 that "it was never again said of me, or for that matter of the British economy either, that we had la puissance d'une idée en marche ". Butler suffered from what his biographer calls an "inability to take Eden wholly seriously". A number of his sardonic witticisms about Eden, who was already subject to press criticism, surfaced, and The Sunday People reported on 8 January 1956 that Eden
395-584: A career in the Diplomatic Service. Butler entered Pembroke College in October 1921 and became President of the Cambridge Union Society for Easter (summer) term of 1924. Initially studying French and German, he graduated in 1925 with one of the highest first-class degrees in history in the university. He was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge , and gave lectures on the politics of
474-491: A contemporary progressive conservatism: First, a society that is fair, where we help people out of poverty and help them stay out of it – for life. Second, a society where opportunity is equal where everyone can, in Michael Gove’s brilliant phrase, “write their own life-story”. Third, a society that is greener, where we pass on a planet that is environmentally sustainable, clean and beautiful to future generations. And fourth,
553-451: A conversation with Walter Monckton , who was willing to serve under Eden but not Butler, whom he considered "a slab of cold fish". Britain's economic problems were worsened by Monckton's appeasement of the trade unions (the 1954 rail strike was settled on the union 's terms with Churchill's backing) and by Macmillan's drive to build 300,000 houses a year. Butler was appointed to the Order of
632-531: A fusion of his name with that of his Labour counterpart, Hugh Gaitskell . Born into a family of academics and Indian administrators, Butler had a distinguished academic career before he entered Parliament in 1929 . As a junior minister, he helped to pass the Government of India Act 1935 . He strongly supported the appeasement of Nazi Germany in 1938 to 1939. Entering the Cabinet in 1941, he served as President of
711-519: A long and distinguished association with the University of Cambridge , dating back to his great-grandfather George Butler . His great-uncle Henry Montagu Butler was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge , and Dean of Gloucester , and his uncle Sir Geoffrey G. Butler , a Cambridge historian and Conservative MP for the university . His father was a Fellow and later Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge . Butler's maternal grandfather, George Smith ,
790-497: A lukewarm or even defeatist attitude. Butler, who was lucky not to be sacked, made a four-page handwritten reply the same day that claimed that he had kept to the official British line and had said "nothing definite or specific that I would wish to withdraw", but he offered to resign. On 28 June, after being shown Churchill's letter, Butler wrote to Halifax and have an unconvincing explanation, which he later repeated in his memoirs, that by "common sense not bravado", he had been pushing
869-546: A member of the foreign policy committee, which agreed to seek an Anglo-Soviet alliance in May 1939, contrary to Chamberlain's and Butler's wishes, but Butler and Horace Wilson persuaded Chamberlain to hamstring the search for an agreement by including a requirement that Britain would not fight without League of Nations approval. Throughout the summer of 1939 Butler continued to lobby for closer Anglo-German relations and for Britain to lean on Poland to reach agreement with Germany. After
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#1732837399315948-518: A modest social safety net and were in favor of continuing some of the New Deal programs introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt . They supported big business but tolerated some economic regulation and were in favor of public-private partnerships . As a faction, the Rockefeller Republicans started going into decline after the nomination of Barry Goldwater for president in 1964, and by the end of
1027-559: A new bill and replied that "we cannot have party politics in wartime". Churchill warned him not to "raise the 1902 controversy during the war". Butler later wrote that having seen the Promised Land, "I was damned if I was going to die in the Land of Moab. Basing myself on long experience of Churchill over the India Bill, I decided to disregard what he said and go straight ahead". More than half
1106-665: A progressive conservative doctrine known as social Catholicism . In the United States , Theodore Roosevelt has been the principal figure identified with progressive conservatism as a political tradition. Roosevelt stated that he had "always believed that wise progressivism and wise conservatism go hand in hand". The administration of President William Howard Taft was considered by some to be progressive conservative. Various European leaders such as Angela Merkel have also aligned themselves with progressive conservative politics. In some countries, such as New Zealand and South Korea ,
1185-713: A safer society, where people are protected from threat and fear. Cameron's political ideology arguably inspired the creation of the progressive conservative think tank Bright Blue in 2014. A variety of Canadian conservative governments have been progressive conservative, with Canada's major conservative party being officially named the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1942 to 2003. Canadian Prime Ministers Arthur Meighen , R.B. Bennett , John Diefenbaker , Joe Clark , Brian Mulroney , and Kim Campbell led progressive conservative, ' Red Tory ' governments. The Progressive Conservative Party merged with
1264-449: Is very little evidence... he took the slightest interest in the rearmament programme to which he devotes such emphasis in his memoirs". Jago concludes that Butler "distorted the facts" and "grossly misrepresented his responsibility and attitudes in 1938". Although not the direct cause of his defeats [for the party leadership] in 1957 or 1963 "it was... always there, the blemish that he could not quite reason away". On 20 October 1939, after
1343-645: The Canadian Alliance in 2003 to form the Conservative Party . However, many of Canada's provinces still have 'Progressive Conservative' parties that continued using the Progressive Conservative name after the 2003 merger: Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other In
1422-536: The City of London . He inherited a balance of payments crisis that was partially caused by the increase in defence spending as a result of the Korean War . Butler initially planned to let the pound float (which would in practice devalue it) and become partially convertible (" Operation ROBOT "). The latter was struck down by Lord Cherwell and his adviser Donald MacDougall, who prepared a paper for Churchill. The counterargument
1501-777: The Conservative Research Department , assisted by David Clarke and Michael Fraser . In 1946, he became chairman of the Industrial Policy Committee. In 1947, the Industrial Charter was produced, which advocated full employment and acceptance of the welfare state. When the Conservative Party returned to power in 1951 , Butler was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the absence of other candidates, Oliver Lyttleton being seen as too close to
1580-519: The Duke of Alba could buy more socks. Butler and Geoffrey Lloyd attempted to register for military service in May 1941, but their application was referred to Ernest Bevin ( Minister of Labour ), who, in turn, referred it to Churchill. He vetoed it on the grounds that their work as government ministers was more important. Butler gained permanent fame for the Education Act of 1944 . Butler's decisive role
1659-677: The Fall of Poland , Butler was, according to Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky , still open to a compromise peace and agreement to restore Germany's colonies if it was guaranteed by all the powers, including the Americans and the Soviets. He dismissed as an "absurdity" any suggestion for Germany first to be required to withdraw from Poland. Butler disapproved of Churchill, the new First Lord of the Admiralty who publicly opposed to any hint of compromise peace. Butler
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#17328373993151738-568: The French Third Republic . At Cambridge, he met Sydney Courtauld; after they married in 1926, his father-in-law awarded him an income of £5,000 a year after tax for life, which was comparable to a Cabinet Minister's salary and gave him the financial freedom to pursue a political career. With the help of his Courtauld family connections, Butler was selected unopposed as the Conservative candidate for Saffron Walden on 26 November 1927. He
1817-553: The Labour landslide of July 1945 he held Saffron Walden narrowly, his majority falling to 1,158. He would probably not have held the seat if the Liberal candidate had not polled over 3,000 votes and split the opposition vote. After the Conservatives were defeated in the 1945 general election, Butler emerged as the most prominent figure in the rebuilding of the party. He became Chairman of
1896-703: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was announced on 23 August 1939, Butler vainly advised against honouring Britain's guarantee to defend Poland against Germany but instead favoured Hitler's proposal to allow Germany to settle matters with Poland as it wished and, in return for concessions over her former colonies, to sign an Anglo-German alliance. Oliver Harvey recorded (27 August) that Butler and Horace Wilson were "working like beavers" for "another Munich". As late as early September 1939, with German invasion of Poland imminent, comments in Channon's diary suggest that Butler
1975-735: The United Kingdom in the 1870s and 1880s under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli respectively. Disraeli's ' One Nation ' Toryism has since become the central progressive conservative tradition in the UK. In the UK, the Prime Ministers Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin , Neville Chamberlain , Winston Churchill , Harold Macmillan , David Cameron and Theresa May have been described as progressive conservatives. The Catholic Church 's Rerum Novarum (1891) advocates
2054-556: The "already... well-known figure" Mr Butskell as "a composite of the present Chancellor and the previous one". However, Butler had more interest in monetary policy and in convertibility, whereas Gaitskell was more inclined to exchange controls, investment and planning. Butler maintained import controls and began a more active monetary policy . In the March 1952 budget, he raised the official bank rate to 4%, cut food subsidies by 40%, reduced taxes and increased pensions and welfare payments,
2133-1138: The BBC (21 October and 15 December 1940). At the reshuffle on Chamberlain's resignation from the government (22 October 1940), Churchill's close supporter Brendan Bracken offered Butler promotion to the Cabinet-level job of President of the Board of Education, but no offer was forthcoming from Churchill. Butler had little respect for Eden but reluctantly agreed to remain at the Foreign Office when he once again became Foreign Secretary in December 1940. In March 1941, with Eden in Cairo, Churchill handled Foreign Office business personally instead of delegating it to Butler. By then, Butler's responsibilities had been restricted to "routine drudgery" such as negotiating safe passage for diplomats; repatriation of neutral seamen; and, on one occasion, arranging extra clothing coupons for foreign diplomats so that
2212-459: The Board of Education (1941–1945) and oversaw the Education Act 1944 . When the Conservatives returned to power in 1951, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1951–1955), Home Secretary (1957–1962), First Secretary of State (1962–1963) and Foreign Secretary (1963–1964). Butler had an exceptionally long ministerial career and was one of only two British politicians (the other being John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon ) to have served in three of
2291-556: The Companions of Honour in 1954. He supported Churchill's proposal for Eden to take "command of the Home Front" in summer 1954, not least as he hoped to succeed Eden as foreign secretary. Butler was one of the ministers who demanded to Churchill's face (22 December 1954) that he set a date for his retirement. Butler's political judgement was affected by the death of his first wife, Sydney, on 9 December 1954. In February 1955, he increased
2370-421: The Foreign Office. Michael Jago argues that the promotion was not, contrary to Butler's own later insinuations, intended as an insult. Butler proved to be one of the most radical reforming ministers on the home front. The main problem standing in the way of education reform was the question of integrating church schools into the state system, which had bedevilled Balfour 's Act in 1902 . Churchill did not want
2449-573: The Free Conservative Party "finally wants to organize itself in a decisive progressive-conservative manner, and hopes thereby to call forth the great new conservative movement which should enable the educated strata to drive once again to the right". In 1918, when the party was dissolved, moderate Free Conservatives joined the German People's Party (DVP), which was itself later dissolved in 1933 following Adolf Hitler's rise to power . After
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2528-802: The Republican Party and create the Progressive Party , which entered the 1912 US presidential election with the aim of denying Taft a second term. Both Taft and Roosevelt were defeated by Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson , and the Progressive Party was dissolved in 1920. Between the 1930s and 1970s, the Rockefeller Republicans were very influential in the GOP - they held moderate to conservative views on economics, while also holding liberal or progressive positions on social issues. They supported
2607-611: The Second World War, most members of the German People's Party joined the modern Free Democratic Party . From the 1860s to the 1970s, progressive conservative politics were popular within the British Conservative Party. Winston Churchill considered himself a progressive conservative, and once said that a "strong Conservative Party with an overwhelming majority and a moderate even progressive leadership...might well be
2686-568: The United States, the Republican Party has historically included progressive conservative factions. At the beginning of the 20th century, progressive conservatives in the GOP included figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft . As president, Roosevelt formulated the Square Deal , a domestic program which focused on breaking up monopolies, protecting consumers, and conserving
2765-672: The avoidance of war and the pursuit of lasting peace. Butler became a Privy Counsellor in the 1939 New Year Honours list, the youngest person so appointed since Churchill in 1907. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939, Butler, like Chamberlain, was shocked at Hitler's duplicity in breaking the Munich Agreement. The evidence suggests Butler did not support Halifax's new policy of attempting to deter further German aggression by pledging to go to war to defend Poland and other Eastern European countries. Butler became
2844-480: The bank rate and restored hire purchase restrictions, and the 1955 budget reduced income tax by 6d, which was allegedly based on faulty Treasury statistics. In April, Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill as prime minister. After the Conservatives won the May 1955 general election , Butler declined a request he move from the Exchequer and later admitted that was a mistake. In an unfortunate speech on 18 October, he commented that
2923-953: The conservative wings of both major parties - this alliance lasted until 1994. The Blue Dog Coalition of the Democratic Party is considered the main successor to the Conservative Coalition. Founded in 1995, the Blue Dog Democrats initially continued promoting the socially conservative policies of its predecessor - today, however, the Blue Dogs promote a mixture of social progressivism and moderate fiscal conservatism, and are generally considered centrist. Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden , KG , CH , PC , DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab ,
3002-453: The country must not sink into "easy evenings with port wine and over-ripe pheasant". The Daily Mirror commented that he had "dropped his silver spoon upon the polished floor". By now, it was apparent that the economy was "overheating" since inflation and the balance of payments deficit were rising sharply. The Cabinet refused to agree to cut bread subsidies, and there was a run on the pound. His final budget in October 1955 reversed several of
3081-587: The cumulative effect being to increase foreign exchange reserves but depress domestic demand. His 1953 budget cut income tax and purchase tax and promised an end to the excess profits levy. When Churchill suffered a stroke in the summer of 1953, an illness that was concealed from the public, Butler acted as head of the Government since Churchill's presumed successor, Eden, was in the United States having medical treatment. Between 29 June and 18 August 1953, Butler chaired sixteen Cabinet meetings. In July, Macmillan recorded
3160-533: The deal and later obtained the concession that denominational teachers could be allowed in fully-controlled schools if parents so wished. In early October 1942, Butler sold his scheme to the Nonconformist leaders of England and Wales. Butler had less success in his dealings with the Roman Catholic Church. He was not able to have talks with the elderly Cardinal Arthur Hinsley until September 1942. Butler
3239-553: The drive away from appeasement after Prague is "wholly false". His own papers suggest that he went to "greater lengths to meet Hitler's demands than any other figure in the British government" in 1939. His efforts to revoke the Polish guarantee that summer went beyond even Horace Wilson's, and it seems doubtful whether he was willing to fight Hitler over Poland at all. Patrick Cosgrave argues, "Butler did not merely go along with appeasement he waxed hard, long and enthusiastic for it, and there
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3318-466: The early 20th century, politicians of the Free Conservative Party addressed means of attracting the working class away from social democracy and towards radical nationalism such as through promoting "patriotic worker" associations. Free Conservative Party member Adolf Grabowsky advocated imperialism as a national project to unify Germans and break down internal divisions, and declared that
3397-617: The end of 1942, a draft White paper was proceeding through the Lord President's Committee. By March 1943, with an Allied victory seeming only a matter of time, Churchill began to support an education bill in 1944 and was aware that he needed to promise postwar improvements and that reforming schools would be cheaper than implementing the Beveridge Report . When the White Paper was published on 16 July 1943, church-state relations received
3476-575: The environment. When Taft assumed the presidency in 1909 after Roosevelt stepped down, he pledged to continue Roosevelt's policies, but was soon criticised by Roosevelt and the rest of the Republican Party's progressive wing for reducing tariffs and for the Pinchot-Ballinger affair . Taft was nominated as the Republican Party's presidential nominee at the 1912 Republican National Convention despite hard-fought efforts from Roosevelt to prevent this - this led Roosevelt and other progressives to split from
3555-762: The eyes of the younger generation of Conservative MPs, many of whom were Second World War veterans. At the time, Butler strongly supported reaching agreement with Hitler as necessary for peace, but in his memoirs, The Art of the Possible (1971), he defended the Munich Agreement as essential to buy time to rearm and gain public support for war in Britain and the Dominions, and he also claimed that he had little input into foreign policy. Later commentators argue that Butler's suggestion in his memoirs that he supported Halifax in leading
3634-712: The face of massive opposition from Winston Churchill and the Conservative right. He retained this position in Stanley Baldwin 's third government (1935–1937), and when Neville Chamberlain replaced Baldwin as prime minister in May 1937, Butler was appointed Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Labour . In the reshuffle caused by the resignation of Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary and Lord Cranborne as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in February 1938, they were replaced by Lord Halifax and Butler, who became
3713-428: The four Great Offices of State but never to have been prime minister for which he was passed over in 1957 and 1963. At the time, the Conservative leadership was decided by a process of private consultation, rather than by a formal vote. After retiring from politics in 1965, Butler was appointed Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and served until 1978. He died of colon cancer in 1982. Butler's paternal family had
3792-566: The fulfillment of all that Dizzy [Disraeli] and my father aimed at". Progressive conservatives succeeded in pressing the Conservative Party to maintain similar social policies to that of the Labour Party, particularly the Bow Group that urged the Conservatives to be moderate on social policy and opposed more extreme conservative-minded bodies that disagreed with this moderation. One of the primary British progressive conservative advocates in this time
3871-463: The governorships against right-wing Republicans in Maryland and Massachusetts , both of which had moderate Republican incumbents, along with the rightward shift of the party in general. The Democratic Party has also historically included some progressive conservatives, and like their Republican counterparts, they too have become a minority in their party. In the 1930s, Southern Democrats (who made up
3950-489: The idea of spending ratepayers' money on a few bright pupils often did not meet with local authority approval. With Churchill's leadership being questioned after recent reverses in the Far East and North Africa, Ivor Bulmer-Thomas (14 August 1942) commented that some Conservative MPs saw Butler, rather than Eden, as a potential successor. In late November 1942, Butler toyed with the idea of allowing himself to be considered for
4029-512: The interests of peace. Butler returned to Britain to make the winding-up speech for the Government in the Parliamentary Debate on the Munich Agreement on 5 October. After Churchill had spoken, Butler said that war solved nothing and that it was better to "settle our differences with Germany by consultation". However, he did not directly defend the Munich settlement; the motion was to support
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#17328373993154108-399: The job of Viceroy of India (in succession to Lord Linlithgow ). Eden had been offered the position by Churchill and was seriously considering accepting it. In the end, Field Marshal Wavell was appointed. Butler helped to write King George VI 's Christmas broadcast at the end of 1942. Butler lobbied John Anderson , Kingsley Wood and Ernest Bevin for an education bill in 1943, and by
4187-436: The least attention. The resulting bill became the Education Act 1944 and is often known as the "Butler Act". It brought in free secondary education; until then, many grammar schools charged for entry, albeit with local authority assistance for poorer pupils in recent years. The Act expanded nursery provision and raised the school leaving age to 15, with a commitment to raise it further to 16 (not implemented until 1972). At
4266-684: The main Foreign Office spokesman in the Commons. In internal discussions after Germany's annexation of Austria on 12 March 1938, Butler counselled against giving Czechoslovakia a guarantee of British support and approved the Cabinet decision on 22 March not to do so, facts that he later omitted from his memoirs. During the Sudeten Crisis , he was attending a League of Nations meeting in Geneva but strongly supported Chamberlain's trip to Berchtesgaden on 16 September, even if it meant sacrificing Czechoslovakia in
4345-400: The main conservative camp are more progressive on immigration than the centre-left camp. In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck enacted various progressive social welfare programs such as domestic health, accident, and old age insurance, out of conservative motivations to distance workers from the socialist movement and as humane ways to assist in maintaining the industrial revolution. In
4424-409: The majority of the Democratic Party's voter base at the time) supported Franklin D. Roosevelt 's economically progressive New Deal programs while remaining socially conservative on topics such as segregation. Many of these Southern Democrats later switched to the Republican Party. Some Conservative Democrats from the South opposed the New Deal and formed the Conservative Coalition , an alliance of
4503-458: The measures from the spring budget, which led to charges of electoral opportunism. Hugh Gaitskell accused him of having deliberately misled the electorate, which amused Macmillan, who wrote in his diary of how Butler was always talking of "honour" in Cabinet. The introduction of purchase tax on kitchen utensils caused it to be labelled the "Pots and Pans" budget. Macmillan was already negotiating with Eden for Butler's job. In December 1955, Butler
4582-445: The new European Payments Union . He was also opposed by his junior minister, Arthur Salter , while Lord Woolton insisted Eden should be involved since the policy would affect foreign relations. Eden opposed it in a rare intervention in domestic politics. It was finally buried at two Cabinets, on 28 and 29 February 1952. Butler followed to a large extent the economic policies of his Labour predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell , by pursuing
4661-407: The official line that there could be no peace until Germany had disgorged its conquests. Jago argues that Butler may have been covering for Halifax. Halifax's biographer Andrew Roberts believes that Butler had been putting words into the mouth of Halifax, who had already moved away from his earlier openness to a compromise peace . Butler kept his position and was allowed to make two broadcasts on
4740-456: The poorest inner-city communities. Serious thought was given to integrating public (fee-paying) schools into the state system. Butler was supportive and believed that standards would be raised in state schools if affluent and articulate parents were involved in the system. The Fleming Commission, assembled by Butler, recommended in July 1944 for a quarter of public school places to be given to scholarships. However, nothing came of it, not least as
4819-422: The presidency of George H.W. Bush , they had become an endangered minority in the party. However, socially progressive Republicans continue to win local and state elections in the Northeastern United States , and have occasionally been referred to by the media as 'Rockefeller-style' Republicans, but this trend was largely absent from the 2022 United States gubernatorial elections , where Democratic candidates won
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#17328373993154898-420: The schools in the country were church schools. Many church schools were in a poor state of repair. In a meeting on 5 June 1942 with the National Society, the body of Church of England schools, Butler proposed that Church schools could choose either to be 50% aided or fully funded with a local education authority majority on the school governing body. Archbishop Temple agreed to persuade his flock to accept
4977-454: The second reading in March 1944, Thelma Cazalet-Keir , part of Quintin Hogg 's Tory Reform Committee, proposed two amendments, one to raise the school leaving age to 16 by 1951 and another demanding equal pay for women teachers. The latter passed by one vote on 28 March 1944. This was the only time the Coalition suffered a significant defeat in a division. Churchill made the amendment a matter of confidence and ensured its defeat on 30 March. This
5056-475: Was Rab Butler . Butler was responsible for creating The Industrial Charter (1947) that sought to combine support of free enterprise with Tory interventionism that promised security of employment, promotion of full employment , and improvement of incentives to employees to help them develop skills and talents - allowing them to fulfill their full potential as individuals, and enhanced status for all employees regardless of their occupation. The Industrial Charter
5135-465: Was Principal of Doveton Boys College , Calcutta . Richard Austen Butler was born 9 December 1902 in Attock , British India , the eldest son of Montagu Sherard Dawes Butler , a member of the Indian Civil Service , and Anne Smith. He had two sisters, Iris (1905–2002), who married Lieutenant-Colonel Gervase Portal (1890–1961) and became a writer, and Dorothy (1909–1999), the wife of Laurence Middleton (1905–1982). His younger brother John (1914–1943)
5214-431: Was a prominent British Conservative Party politician; he was effectively deputy prime minister to Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan , although he only held the official title for a brief period in 1962–63. 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 the 1970s; it is sometimes known as " Butskellism " from
5293-458: Was criticized by Conservative leader Winston Churchill though he eventually supported it, and more harshly condemned by more right-leaning Conservatives as being a step towards socialism. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron was described as a progressive conservative. As British Conservative Party leader in 2009, he launched the Progressive Conservatism Project at the British think tank Demos . In his speech, he outlined his vision of
5372-468: Was elected in the 1929 general election , and retained the seat until his retirement in 1965. Even before being elected to Parliament, Butler had been private secretary to Samuel Hoare . When the National Government was formed in August 1931 Hoare was appointed Secretary of State for India , and Butler was appointed as Hoare's Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS). In January 1932, he visited India as part of Lord Lothian 's Franchise Committee, which
5451-565: Was killed in an air crash on active service in January 1943. In July 1909, at the age of six, Butler's right arm was broken in three places in a riding accident, which left his right hand permanently disabled. He attended a preparatory school in Hove but rebelled against going to Harrow School , where most of his family were educated. Having failed to win a scholarship to Eton College , he instead attended Marlborough College , leaving in December 1920. In June 1921, he won an exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge . At that stage, he planned
5530-404: Was moved to the post of Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons . Although he 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 , insisted on an assurance from Eden that Butler was not senior to him. Harry Crookshank warned that he was committing "political suicide" by giving up
5609-413: Was one of the events which made Churchill and the Conservatives appear reactionary and contributed to their election defeat in 1945. The Butler Act became law in August 1944. With party politics restarting, Butler opposed the nationalisation of iron and steel on 9 April 1945. After the end of the European War in May, Butler was Minister of Labour for two months in the Churchill caretaker ministry . In
5688-425: Was out at the dentist, and Churchill was appointed instead. Butler wrote to Chamberlain on 11 May to urge him to carry on as a member of the government in the hope of achieving a negotiated peace and was reappointed to the Foreign Office on 15 May. Butler later grew to respect Churchill after serving under him. On 17 June 1940, the day that Marshal Philippe Petain asked for an armistice, Butler met informally with
5767-476: Was quicker than many to realise the social change which war would bring. He spoke to Robert Barrington-Ward of The Times (12 February 1940) of "the new social revolution that is making its way, and how to anticipate and meet it". With Chamberlain's position untenable after the Norway Debate , Butler tried on 10 May 1940 to persuade Halifax to accept appointment as prime minister, but he later stated that he
5846-621: Was set up by the Round Table Conference and which recommended a large increase in the Indian electorate. On 29 September 1932, Butler became Under-Secretary of State for India after the resignation of Lord Lothian and other Liberals over abandonment of free trade by the National Government. At 29, he was the youngest member of the government and was responsible for piloting the Government of India Act 1935 through Parliament in
5925-536: Was sympathetic to last-minute Italian efforts to broker peace and that he and Butler were heartened by the delay in the British declaration of war on Germany caused by lack of agreement with the French over timing. Butler's close association with appeasement was often held against him later in his career. Although he later held many senior Cabinet positions, by the time of Suez in 1956, his past, coupled with his lack of personal military experience, damaged his reputation in
6004-568: Was that the balance of payments would have worsened, as any reduction in demand for imports would have been swamped by the rise in prices of imported goods . Furthermore, 90% of other countries' sterling balances, kept in London, were to be frozen. They too would effectively have been devalued, which would have angered Commonwealth countries, would have broken the rules for the International Monetary Fund and would not have been allowed under
6083-481: Was to resign and hand over the premiership to Butler. When it was officially denied, on 9 January, Butler told The Guardian that he was determined to "support the Prime Minister in all his difficulties" and that Eden was "the best Prime Minister we have". Butler threatened resignation in March 1956 over Macmillan's plans to reverse the 6d cut in income tax. Macmillan himself then threatened resignation unless he
6162-435: Was to secure passage by negotiations with interested parties from Churchill to the churches and from educators to MPs. In July 1941, Butler was appointed President of the Board of Education , his first Cabinet post. Some writers, such as Addison, suggest that Education was a backwater and that Churchill offered him it or a diplomatic post to remove him from the more sensitive Foreign Office. However, he had been keen to leave
6241-546: Was told that his plans for 50% aided status were not acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church on 15 September 1942. Butler thought it better to present the Catholic Church with a fait accompli . Plans for 1943 were scuppered by a letter to The Times from Hinsley stressing Franklin Roosevelt 's commitment to freedom of conscience and arguing that Catholic schools should not be bullied by the state, as they often provided for
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