Merlyn Rees, later Baron Merlyn-Rees of Cilfynydd, PC (18 December 1920 - 5 January 2006) was a British Labour party Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. In that year, he was created a life peer and entered the House of Lords. Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... In the United Kingdom, Life Peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as hereditary peers). ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ...

He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from March 1974 until September 1976, when he moved back to London to become Home Secretary. For two years before the Labour government came to power in 1974 he had been Labour Party spokesman on Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the British cabinet minister who has responsibility for the government of Northern Ireland. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7. ... The Home Secretary (official full title Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... official_languages = Englishde facto5| Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)3 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked...

Rees wrote of his views on Northern Ireland in: Northern Ireland: a personal perspective (Methuen, London, 1985). This article is about the year. ...

He was president of the Video Standards Council and Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan. The University of Glamorgan is a university in Treforest, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. ...

He died in 2006 after a number of falls and a coma from which he failed to recover. This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Obituary: Source PA News- An obituary is a notice of the death of a person, usually published in a newspaper, written or commissioned by the newspaper (rather than written by relatives), and usually including a short biography. ...

AN UNSPECTACULAR BUT EFFECTIVE MINISTER

By Chris Moncrieff, PA

Lord Merlyn-Rees, who has died aged 85, served as Home Secretary and Northern Ireland Secretary in the British Labour governments of the 1970s. The Home Secretary (official full title Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ... official_languages = Englishde facto5| Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)3 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked... Labour (Commonwealth English) or labor (American English) may refer to one of the following. ...

He was an unspectacular but effective minister, whose natural instinct was to unify and moderate in the face of conflict and extremism. He spent the great bulk of his 30 years in the House of Commons on the front bench, either in Government or Opposition, and his decision in the early 1980s not to seek re-election on to the shadow cabinet made him one of the most experienced and seasoned back-benchers on either side of the House. Opposition may refer to a number of topics: astronomical opposition political opposition parliamentary opposition Opposition to a patent, see for instance Opposition procedure before the European Patent Office This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The former Merlyn Rees - he changed his name by deed poll to Merlyn-Rees on becoming a life peer in 1992 - was a poor and rambling orator, but what he said he did so with feeling, which despite its lack of eloquence betrayed an element of passion. He entered Parliament at a by-election in 1963 in the Leeds South seat, which became vacant by the death of Hugh Gaitskell. It quickly became apparent that Merlyn Rees was to be a worthy successor to the former Labour leader. An aerial view of Parliament of India at New Delhi. ... Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 - January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963. ...

Lord Merlyn-Rees was born in Cilfynydd, South Wales, on December 18, 1920. He was educated in elementary schools in South Wales and Wembley, Middlesex, Harrow Weald grammar school, the London School of Economics, London and Nottingham Universities. His political propensities first became apparent at Harrow Weald. He was also good at acting, was in the First XI at every sport, and had an excellent Welsh singing voice. In 1935, he stood as Labour candidate in the school's mock election. The school magazine reported that he was ``heard very well for the simple reason that he spoke quickly, thus giving nobody the chance to cheer (or jeer). But he was nevertheless beaten by the Tory. South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the East and South, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the North and West. ... The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or simply the LSE, is a specialist university in London and is regarded as the worlds most prestigious social science institution. ...

His education was interrupted by war service in the Royal Air Force from 1941 to 1946. He was a ground controller of forward units during the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and the South of France, ending as a squadron-leader at the age of 25. Lord Merlyn-Rees was remembered at University as ``level-headed, enormously thorough, reliable, very serious, and of durable personal loyalties``. The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Those virtues shone through his long and active parliamentary career. He spent 11 years teaching at his old grammar school - where he met his wife Colleen - and was active in Labour circles before taking over Hugh Gaitskell's seat. Gaitskell had known and admired him. His earliest mentor in the Commons was James Callaghan, who picked him as parliamentary private secretary when he was Chancellor. Then, after four unspectacular years as Defence Under-Secretary, Rees rejoined Callaghan at the Home Office in 1968 as Race Relations Minister. There he acquired a reputation as an inflexible minister, keeping down immigration, invariably sustaining the decision of Home Office officials, even though the Act allowed him discretion to intervene on humanitarian grounds. The Right Honourable Sir Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. ...

In Opposition in 1970, he became Callaghan's Number Two as home affairs spokesman. Two years later, after working on formulating Labour's policy on Ireland, he was elected to the shadow cabinet. He was therefore already well-briefed when he became Northern Ireland Secretary in 1974, but he took over at a time when the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive had been in existence. But the general election had produced a Protestant parliamentary victory opposed to the whole principle of power-sharing. The great threat, therefore came from the combined political and military forces of the Loyalists. This led to the Loyalist strike during which he refused to talk to Loyalist workers, yet also refused to act against them. He thus confused stubbornness with strength and by the end of the strike, the Ulster Workers' Council had effectively taken control of the entire Province and shattered the delicate balance of political power. Then, Rees moved towards an all-party convention, but he was criticised for indecision and especially for failing to communicate to the Loyalists the need for them to make concessions if they wished the Union to survive. The mutual dislike between Rees and Dr Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist leader, reached a climax in 1975 when Rees stormed out of a meeting with him and locked the door on him, after Paisley accused him of cooking up a deal with the IRA. He was determined to complete his policy of ending detention without trial. This was eventually done a few weeks before Christmas, and along with that the ending of special status for convicted terrorists - his proudest personal achievement. For the township in Canada, see Loyalist, Ontario In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ... The Reverend and Right Honourable Ian Richard Kyle Paisley MP MLA (born 6 April 1926), also known as Dr Ian Paisley, is a prominent politician and church leader from Northern Ireland, and is head of the Democratic Unionist Party. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ...

At the Home Office, Rees took an unexpectedly hard line over crime. And, in conflict with Labour Party thinking generally, he once said he had never been against the idea of ``the sharply-administered wallop on vandals. His experience at the Northern Ireland Office made him particularly keen on security, and he implemented several initiatives to give MPs and Ministers more protection. Rees presided over a period when crime rose, but not at the astonishing pace when subsequent Conservative Governments were in power. He also clashed with prison officers over a pay claim which threatened to prevent the admission of new prisoners. But the worst was averted.

After the Tories regained power, Rees became shadow home secretary, followed by a period as shadow energy secretary. He remained loyal to Neil Kinnock and was a leading figure in trying to reform Labour's constitution in the wake of the 1979 and subsequent general election defeats. The term Tory derives from the Tory Party, the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. ... Lord Kinnock The Right Honourable Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, PC (born 28 March 1942) is a British politician. ...

After his decision not to seek re-election to the shadow cabinet, Rees became active in the campaign to prosecute alleged Nazi war criminals living in Britain. He did not fight the 1992 general election in his seat which, through boundary changes, had by then become known as Leeds South and Morley. He was made a life peer in the subsequent dissolution honours. Lord Merlyn-Rees continued to be active in the House of Lords right into his 80s, even though he developed Parkinson's Disease. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ...