Irvine Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw

Irvine Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw
Born	Irvine Laidlaw (1942-12-22) 22 December 1942 Keith, Banffshire
Residence	Monaco London Noordhoek, Cape Town
Nationality	British
Education	Merchiston Castle School
Alma mater	Leeds University Columbia Business School
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Institute for International Research
Net worth	£745 million (2012)
Title	Baron Laidlaw of Rothiemay
Political party	Conservative Party
Spouse(s)	Christine

Irvine Alan Stewart Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw (born 12 December 1942 in Keith, Banffshire, Scotland) is a Scottish businessman, and a former member of the House of Lords. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2012 ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 105th with an estimated fortune of £745 million.^[1]

Biography

The son of a Banffshire mill-owner, Laidlaw was educated at Merchiston Castle School, Leeds University and New York City's Columbia Business School.^[2]

After graduation, Laidlaw turned a small US publishing company bought in 1973 into the Institute for International Research (IIR), the world's largest conference organiser. After calling off a £500m flotation in 2001 when the market plunged, he sold in 2005 for a sum believed to be in the order of £768m.^[2]

In 1988 Laidlaw founded Abbey Business Centres, a subsidiary of IIR providing serviced office space, meeting room facilities and virtual office packages in 13 business centres in Great Britain.^[3] The first business centre opened in Glasgow, and soon the company opened up another centre in Slough, Berkshire. Other centres were added, and in 2009 a total of 13 centres made up the organisation.

Conservative Party donations

One of the largest financial backers of the UK's Conservative Party, Laidlaw was made a life peer as Baron Laidlaw, of Rothiemay in Banffshire on 14 June 2004.^[4] According to the records of the UK Electoral Commission, on 27 November 2007, Laidlaw gave a donation of £2,990,532.20 to the UK Conservative Party.^[5] Laidlaw donated £25,000 to the 2008 London Mayoral election campaign of Boris Johnson.^[2]

Tax status

In 2008, Lord Laidlaw was described by The Guardian as a "Monaco-based tax exile".^[6]

Lord Laidlaw was criticised in April 2007 in the press for failing to become UK tax resident despite being appointed to the House of Lords. The BBC said that, in a letter seen by them, Laidlaw "cites a variety of personal reasons" for non-compliance.^[7] Criticism by Dennis Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Coddenham, chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, on assurances given to the Commission by Laidlaw to become a UK tax resident by April 2004, were followed by Laidlaw taking leave of absence from the House of Lords.^[8] In 2010 following the enactment of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 he stepped down from his seat in the House of Lords to maintain his non-domiciled status and so be able to avoid paying UK residents' taxes.

Charity donations

In 2004, Laidlaw said that he would over the next 20–30 years donate most of his fortune to helping disadvantaged Scots. His main vehicle was the Laidlaw Youth Project, which supported a range of charitable work for disadvantaged youngsters in Scotland from 2004 to 2007 when it became the Laidlaw Youth Trust. He has also donated:^[9]

• £2million to The Prince's Trust^[10]
• After Moray Council earmarked Rothiemay Primary School for closure, Laidlaw donated funds to a parents campaign which successfully kept 21 schools open
• £40,000 to Keith Grammar School, to fund a scheme to help senior pupils prepare for the world of work
• £1,000,000 to Merchiston Castle School his former school; despite having despised attending it, he eventually relented to persuasion by the headmaster and donated this sum. The new sixth-form house at the school, which his donation went some way to financing will therefore be named Laidlaw House.
• £9,000,000 to the University of Leeds to support the development of the new undergraduate library.

In 2007, he set up the Laidlaw Youth Trust which from 2007 to 2009 spent over £6million in Scotland on good causes related to disadvantaged children and young people. In 2007, in emerged that the Scottish Executive had given sufficient donations to pay the salary of the CEO Laidlaw Youth project, Maureen McGinn – who is also the wife of Scotland's most senior civil servant, Sir John Elvidge.^[11]

In 2008, Laidlow became a sponsor to Excelsior Academy in Newcastle's West End. He donated £30,000,000 towards the construction of the school.

He closed the Trust in 2009 because he was spending more time in South Africa and said he wanted to focus his charitable giving there. It is not known how much he has gifted in his new adopted country but he was involved in some township housing project.

In 2014, an undergraduate internship scheme was set up at the University of St. Andrews through a donation from Lord Laidlaw who is an honorary graduate of the University.^[12]

Personal life

Laidlaw and his wife Christine divide their time between an apartment in Monaco overlooking the harbour; and their South African home, an early 20th-century 23,200 m² estate in Noordhoek, near Cape Town. At the time of the purchase, in November 2005, it was the country's most expensive property, bought for R106-million.

Hobbies

Laidlaw regularly competes in historic car racing around the world with his Porsche 904GTS, Porsche 904/6, Maserati 250S & Maserati 6CM. Laidlaw also won a medal in the Scottish amateur rally, using a Ford Focus ST. In 2007 Laidlaw added a 1001 hp Bugatti Veyron to his extensive car collection, which is sometimes seen between Noordhoek and Cape Town, on the world-famous coastal road Chapman's Peak Drive.

Laidlaw has won the Key West Regatta twice using his Swan 60 cruiser-racer, Highland Fling. He began a voyage around the world in Oceanco built motor yacht, the Lady Christine, in 2003.

Sex life allegations

In April 2008, Laidlaw was the target of a sting operation staged by investigative journalist Mazher Mahmood on behalf of the British tabloid The News of the World, which revealed that Laidlaw hires up to five £3,000 vice girls at a time for all-night orgies involving spanking, bondage and lesbian sex at his Monaco home. After submitting a written confession to the newspaper in which he allegedly confesses a lifetime fighting sex addiction,^[13] Laidlaw has reportedly checked himself into a six-week residential sex addict programme in South Africa, and donated £1million to help fellow sufferers.^[14]

Arms

References

External links

• Superyacht Lady Christine at Superyacht Times
• Lord Laidlaw at TheyWorkForYou
• Abbey Business Centres