The Lord Rowlands | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forMerthyr Tydfil and Rhymney Merthyr Tydfil (1972–1983) | |
| In office 13 April 1972 – 14 May 2001 | |
| Preceded by | S. O. Davies |
| Succeeded by | Dai Havard |
| Member of Parliament forCardiff North | |
| In office 31 March 1966 – 29 May 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Donald Box |
| Succeeded by | Michael Roberts |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1940-01-23)23 January 1940 (age 85) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
Edward Rowlands, Baron RowlandsCBE (born 23 January 1940) is a Welsh politician, who served as aLabour Party Member of Parliament for over thirty years, including a period as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s.[1]
He attendedRhondda Grammar School andWirral Grammar School, and thenKing's College London, where he obtained a BA in History in 1962.
Rowlands was first elected to the Commons at the1966 general election as Member of Parliament forCardiff North, but lost his seat at the1970 election. He was elected to representMerthyr Tydfil at the1972 by-election called after the death of the long-standing MPS. O. Davies. Rowlands served as Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil until the constituency boundaries were redrawn and renamed for the1983 general election, when he was returned for the newMerthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency. He was returned at three further elections before he stepped down at the2001 general election.
He had served as a junior minister inHarold Wilson's governments, asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State in theWelsh Office from 1969 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1975, when he was appointed to theForeign and Commonwealth Office. From 1976, underJames Callaghan's premiership, he wasMinister of State at the Foreign Office until Labour was defeated at the1979 general election.
In a debate on theFalklands War on 3 April 1982, Rowlands revealed that the British were reading Argentine diplomatic traffic.[2][3] Rowlands was criticised (but not prosecuted as perparliamentary privilege) for revealing this intelligence source, as the likely result of his disclosure was that the Argentinians would secure their systems and the intelligence would dry up.
Argentine embassies used the same, top of the line, Swiss Crypto AG machine systems as their armed forces, so this was the precise equivalent of publicly announcing, during World War II, that the Allies had broken theEnigma system used by the Nazis. It is unlikely we shall ever know how much damage this betrayal of trust did to national security, but if anyone else than anMP had given the information to the Argentines they would have been prosecuted.[4]
He was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2002 Birthday Honours,[5] and on 28 June 2004 was created alife peer, asBaron Rowlands, of Merthyr Tydfil and ofRhymney in the County of Mid-Glamorgan.[6] In theHouse of Lords, as of July 2019, he is a member of theEU Justice Sub-Committee and theDelegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.[7]
Lord Rowlands sat on theRichard Commission which reported on 31 March 2004 on whether theNational Assembly for Wales should have additional legislative powers.
Last night the [Defence Secretary] asked "How can we read the mind of the enemy?" I shall make a disclosure. As well as trying to read the mind of the enemy, we have been reading its telegrams for many years.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCardiff North 1966–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMerthyr Tydfil 1972–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forMerthyr Tydfil and Rhymney 1983–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Rowlands | Followed by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
