[4] When Williams died in 1965, Rees was the Conservative candidate in the consequent by-election, losing by a similarly large margin.

He finally entered Parliament at the 1970 general election, when he won in Dover, with a majority of 1,649 over sitting Labour MP David Ennals.

After the 1983 UK general election he was appointed to the cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, working to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson.

He retired from Parliament at the 1987 general election, aged 61, and on 16 November 1987 was created a life peer as Baron Rees, of Goytre in the County of Gwent[5] and sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative.

[6] Rees died of a spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage at St Thomas' Hospital, London, following a short illness.