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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Rab Butler
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(Richard Austen Butler, 1902–82, baron 1965) Tory politician and MP for Saffron Walden (1929–65), who held most of the great offices of state (chancellor of the exchequer 1951–5, home secretary 1957–62, foreign secretary 1963–4) and who was widely expected to succeed *Macmillan as prime minister in 1964. He failed to do so largely because of Macmillan's determined opposition. Seen as an essentially reasonable man, a believer in consensus politics, his name formed part of *Butskellism. He was the wartime minister of *education (1941–5), and his most lasting piece of legislation – still often referred to as the Butler Act – was the Education Act of 1944. On retirement from politics he became master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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