Ted Rowlands, Baron Rowlands
Encyclopedia
Edward "Ted" Rowlands, Baron Rowlands, CBE
(born 23 January 1940) is a Welsh
politician, who served as a Labour Party
Member of Parliament
for over thirty years and as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s.
Grammar School and Wirral
Grammar School, and then King's College London
where he obtained a BA
in History in 1962.
as Member of Parliament for Cardiff North
, but lost his seat at the 1970 election
. He was elected to represent Merthyr Tydfil
at the 1972 by-election
called after the death of the long standing MP S. O. Davies
. Rowlands served as Member of Parliament
for Merthyr Tydfil until the constituency boundaries were redrawn and renamed for the 1983 general election
, when he was returned for the new Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
constituency. He was returned at three further elections before he stepped down at the 2001 general election
.
He had served as a junior minister under in Harold Wilson
's governments, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
in the Welsh Office
from 1969 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1975, when he was appointed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
. From 1976, under James Callaghan
's premiership, he was Minister of State
at the Foreign Office until Labour was defeated at the 1979 general election
.
In a debate on the Falklands War
on 3 April 1982, Rowlands revealed that the British were reading Argentine diplomatic traffic. Rowlands was criticised (but not prosecuted as per parliamentary 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.
He was appointed a CBE in 2002, and in June 2004 he was given a life peerage, as Baron Rowlands, of Merthyr Tydfil and of Rhymney
in the County of Mid-Glamorgan. In the House of Lords
, he is a member of the Constitution Committee
.
Lord Rowlands sat on the Richard Commission which reported on 31 March 2004 on whether the National Assembly for Wales
should have additional legislative powers.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 23 January 1940) is a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
politician, who served as a Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for over thirty years and as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s.
Education
He attended RhonddaRhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
Grammar School and Wirral
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...
Grammar School, and then King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
where he obtained a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in History in 1962.
Political career
Rowlands was first elected to the Commons at the 1966 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
as Member of Parliament for Cardiff North
Cardiff North (UK Parliament constituency)
Cardiff North is aborough constituency in the city of Cardiff. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....
, but lost his seat at the 1970 election
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
. He was elected to represent Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
at the 1972 by-election
Merthyr Tydfil by-election, 1972
The Merthyr Tydfil by-election of 13 April 1972 was held after the death of S. O. Davies on 25 February the same year. The Labour Party won the by-election in what had traditionally been a safe seat, although Davies had been elected in the 1970 general election as an Independent after he had been...
called after the death of the long standing MP S. O. Davies
S. O. Davies
Stephen Owen Davies was a Welsh politician, and a member of the House of Commons from 1934 to his death....
. Rowlands served as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Merthyr Tydfil until the constituency boundaries were redrawn and renamed for the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
, when he was returned for the new Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Boundaries :The main towns are Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney...
constituency. He was returned at three further elections before he stepped down at the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
.
He had served as a junior minister under in Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
's governments, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
in the Welsh Office
Welsh Office
The Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964...
from 1969 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1975, when he was appointed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
. From 1976, under James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
's premiership, he was Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
at the Foreign Office until Labour was defeated at the 1979 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
.
In a debate on the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
on 3 April 1982, Rowlands revealed that the British were reading Argentine diplomatic traffic. Rowlands was criticised (but not prosecuted as per parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
) 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 the EnigmaEnigma machineAn Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
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 an MPMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
had given the information to the Argentines they would have been prosecuted.
He was appointed a CBE in 2002, and in June 2004 he was given a life peerage, as Baron Rowlands, of Merthyr Tydfil and of Rhymney
Rhymney
Rhymney is a town and a community located in the county borough of Caerphilly in south-east Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Along with the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is designated as the 'Upper Rhymney Valley' by the local...
in the County of Mid-Glamorgan. In the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, he is a member of the Constitution Committee
Constitution Committee (House of Lords)
The Constitution Committee is a cross-party select committee of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Committee’s remit is “to examine the constitutional implications of all public bills coming before the House; and to keep under review the operation of...
.
Lord Rowlands sat on the Richard Commission which reported on 31 March 2004 on whether the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
should have additional legislative powers.