Alfred Butt

Sir Alfred Butt, 1st Baronet[1] (20 March 1878 – 8 December 1962) was a British theatre impresario, Conservative politician and racehorse owner and breeder.

[2] Alfred Butt was born in London, the son of solicitor Alfred Beyfus[disputed – discuss] whose forebears had migrated from Hamburg to Glasgow and London, and educated at Emanuel School[disputed – discuss] before entering employment in the counting-house of Harrod's department store where his uncle, Edgar Cohen, through the Beyfus family was a director.

[3][2][4] He subsequently joined the Palace Theatre, a music hall in Cambridge Circus, London, largely controlled by the Beyfus family and associates.

[2][4] He developed close links with the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit and its associates in the United States, and brought numerous American stars to London.

He also introduced British audiences to continental performers such as Anna Pavlova and Yvette Guilbert.

[2][4] Also during the First World War, he was appointed in 1917 by the new Prime Minister David Lloyd George as the Director of Food Rationing, and introduced compulsory food rationing with the support of his principal civil servant William Beveridge.

[2][6] He held the seat at successive elections until he was forced to resign from the Commons in June 1936 over a scandal concerning a leak of budget details from which he was believed to have benefited financially.