Sir Richard Layton Butler KCMG (31 March 1885 – 21 January 1966) was the 31st Premier of South Australia, serving two disjunct terms in office: from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1933 to 1938.

In government, Butler passed the Drought Relief and Debt Adjustment Acts to assist drought stricken farmers but his reaction to other industries hit by the Great Depression in Australia was less sympathetic; believing that the way out of the Depression was for South Australians to work harder, Butler dealt heavily with a waterside workers strike in 1929 and cut funding to many government departments.

By the 1930 election, South Australia faced severe drought as well as the Depression, leaving Butler to warn of hard times ahead and further belt-tightening required.

Not surprisingly, the Liberal Federation was reduced to 13 seats and the Country Party two as Labor swept to power and Butler returned to the opposition benches.

The newly united LCL went into the 1933 election as unbackable favourites following the self-destruction of the South Australian ALP over its handling of the Depression.

Hill resigned nine months before the election and was succeeded by Robert Richards, who faced the nearly impossible task of holding on to power against the LCL.

He was also known in Canberra as a fierce opponent of federal control, strongly opposing the proposed Commonwealth wheat pool and the rationalisation of butter production.

Butler's term in office also saw the founding of the South Australian Housing Trust, designed to build cheap homes for those affected by the Depression and the successful enticing of BHP to build the Whyalla Steelworks, and General Motors Holden to maintain its Adelaide base, as well as major changes to the structure of Parliament.

An opportunity arose for such a move in 1938, following the death in an aeroplane crash of Charles Hawker, the United Australia Party MP for the federal seat of Wakefield.

However, in a shock result, Butler lost the by-election after independent Percy Quirke's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Labor challenger Sydney McHugh.