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.
[4]He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2002 Birthday Honours,[5] and on 28 June 2004 was created a life peer, as Baron Rowlands, of Merthyr Tydfil and of Rhymney in the County of Mid-Glamorgan.
[6] In the House of Lords, as of July 2019, he is a member of the EU Justice Sub-Committee and the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.
[7] 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.