At
a by-election in 1963, Rees stood as the Labour candidate for
Leeds South and succeeded Labour leader
Hugh Gaitskell, who had died in office. Rees was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, where
James Callaghan was
Home Secretary, from November 1968 until the June 1970 general election. The UVF was implicated in the 17 May 1974
Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the group was banned again by the British Government on 3 October 1975. Rees' decision to permit the
Sunningdale power sharing arrangements to collapse in Northern Ireland was described as 'supine' by former
SDLP leader,
Seamus Mallon. Rees was almost assassinated by the IRA in July 1976. He was to travel to the Republic to consult with the Ambassador
Christopher Ewart-Biggs and Irish ministers but postponed his trip after Margaret Thatcher refused to allow Northern Ireland ministers to pair their votes in House of Commons divisions. Rees wrote later that it seemed likely the IRA had known of his impending visit but were unaware of its cancellation. Ewart-Biggs and FCO official Judith Cooke died in a landmine explosion. Rees later wrote of his experiences in Northern Ireland in
Northern Ireland: a Personal Perspective. In September 1976 Rees was appointed
Home Secretary and remained in that post until Labour's defeat in the 1979 UK elections. Rees was president of the
Video Standards Council from 1990 and was the first Chancellor of the
University of Glamorgan, a position he held from 1994 to 2002. ==Personal life and death==