Vaus attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School and the University of Sheffield, where he qualified as a dentist.
[2] At the 1959 United Kingdom general election, Vaus contested East Surrey; he took second place, with 18.3% of the vote.
[5] Vaus again contested East Surrey in the February and October 1974 United Kingdom general elections, taking 33.8% and 29.2% of the vote and second place to Geoffrey Howe.
Vaus tried to push through a rule change to allow any MP to stand for the leadership with just a single nomination, hoping that this would get his preferred candidate, Russell Johnston, onto the ballot.
[9] He spent some time chairing the party's Finance and Administration Board, a role in which he replaced Clement Freud.