At the 1964 general election Rees stood as the Conservative candidate in the safe Labour seat of Abertillery, where he won only 14% of the votes, against the 86% won by the only other candidate, Labour's Reverend Llewellyn Williams.[4] When Williams died in 1965, Rees was the Conservative candidate in the consequent by-election, losing by a similarly large margin.
Unlike most other Chief Secretaries to the Treasury, Peter Rees never went further within the Cabinet, leaving the post in the September 1985 cabinet reshuffle. 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.
Personal life
In 1969, he married Anthea Peronelle Wendell, daughter of Major Hugh John Maxwell-Hyslop, and former wife of Major Jack Wendell. They had no children.[3] Through this marriage, he was the stepfather of Anthea's daughters from her first marriage to Jac Wendell: Francesca and Serena Wendell (later the second wife of John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute).[6]
Upon a chapeau turned up ermines a peacock holding in its beak an oak sprig proper.
Escutcheon
Argent two chevrons ermines between three ravens proper.
Supporters
Two Bengal tigers rampant, the Dexter on a grassy mount growing therefrom two tea-plant flowers, and the Sinister on a like mount growing therefrom as many lotus flowers all proper.
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