DAVID BUTLER, who died at 98, was a key figure in how British elections were understood and analysed from the late 1940s on.

He authored books after each general election reviewing the results and was a familiar figure on BBC election night programmes. In that sense he is part of Britain’s post-1945 social history himself.

Michael Crick’s biography reveals that Butler’s original interest was in cricket statistics but on returning from service in the army in 1945 he found few matches being played and switched his attention to politics.