National Savings Committee in 1926, a post he served in until 1943, the same year he became vice-president until his death. During this time he was asked by the Government to conduct the publicity in regard to the conversion of the 5% war loan. According to The Times, "in the Second World War the activities of the National Savings Committee were largely extended and became a vital part of the national war effort." He continued to have an influential role in domestic politics. Seely was granted the Freedom of the City of Portsmouth in 1927. Appeasement On 21 June 1933, Seely was raised to the peerage as Baron Mottistone, of Mottistone in the County of Southampton. In 1933, Lord Mottistone visited Berlin in his capacity as Chairman of the Air League, as a guest of Joachim von Ribbentrop. In 1935, he visited Nazi Germany again in his boat "Mayflower". In May 1935, Adolf Hitler made a well publicised speech in which he proclaimed that German rearmament offered no threat to world peace. That month, Lord Mottistone told the House of Lords that "we ought to assume that it is genuine and sincere...I have had many interviews with Herr Hitler. I think the noble Lord and all the people who have really met this remarkable man will agree with me on one thing, however much we may disagree about other things—that he is absolutely truthful, sincere, and unselfish". His book, "Mayflower seeks the Truth", which according to the ODNB was "full of Nazi propaganda", was published in Germany in 1937. Plans for a British edition were shelved in 1938 as tensions mounted over Czechoslovakia. As late as June 1939 (after Hitler had broken the Munich Agreement and occupied Prague), Lord Mottistone proclaimed in the House of Lords: "I am an unrepentant believer in...the policy of appeasement". However, in 1941, he wrote an article in The Sunday Times and the Evening Standard denouncing the brutality of "Hitlerism". Other posts Seely was also Vice-President of the RNLI. He was a keen sailor and for much of his life was coxswain of the Brook Lifeboat. Seely served as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire from 1918 to 1947. He was also a Justice of the Peace (JP) for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the first Chairman of Wembley Stadium, and a director of Thomas Cook. Lord Mottistone died in Westminster aged 79. His will was