Derek Laud

Derek George Henry Laud (born 9 August 1964) is a British lobbyist, businessman, political adviser, speechwriter, and journalist. He received public attention when he was a contestant in the 2005 series of the British reality television show Big Brother. Laud is co-founder and the executive director of the New City Initiative, a think tank and financial lobbying company.^[2] He is also a partner, partnership secretary, Director of the Advisory Board, and Director of Corporate Affairs at wealth management company Stanhope Capital LLP. Laud was the first black member of the Conservative Monday Club and first black master of foxhounds in the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Derek Laud was born on 9 August 1964 in Chelsea, London. His parents, Lyn and Samuel Laud, had emigrated to the United Kingdom from Jamaica in the late 1950s.^[1] Laud's mother was a nurse and his father left the family when Laud was eight.^[1]

As a child, Laud became close to two middle-aged sisters, Anne and Cecily Meehan, and went to live with them in Clapham following a breakdown in his relationship with his mother as a result of his revealing to her that he was homosexual at the age of 14; Laud had known that he was gay since he was eight.^[1] Laud was later reconciled with his mother after a near-20-year estrangement.^[1] Anne Meehan was deputy headmistress of Falconbrook House School in Clapham, which Laud attended, and Cecily worked as a child psychologist. In an article for the Daily Mail in 2007 Laud described the sisters' importance in his life, and how he consults them on every major decision.^[1]

Career

Politics

In the early 1980s, Laud became the first black member of the Conservative Monday Club.^[3] In October 1984, Laud produced a policy paper under the auspices of the Club's Immigration and Race Relations Committee titled "The Law, Order and Race Relations". Laud considered himself on the liberal wing of the Club, and resigned following disagreements about apartheid South Africa.^[4] He later wrote that until he became a member of the Club "I hadn't appreciated just how absurdly nasty this fringe group of lunatics really were".^[4]

Laud subsequently became a researcher and special adviser, working for Conservative Members of Parliament and government ministers in the mid-1980s. Laud also worked as an advisor to Sir Gordon Downey, the former Auditor General, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and Chairman of the Personal Investment Authority.^[2]

In the second half of the 1980s, Laud became an aide and speechwriter for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.^[5][6] During this period, Laud also contributed to speeches for other leading Conservative politicians including Alan Clark and Michael Heseltine.^[5][7] Laud was a campaign aide and fundraiser for then Prime Minister John Major during the 1992 general election campaign.^[6]

In the 1997 general election, Laud was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Tottenham, a constituency with a large non-white population that had been represented by black Labour MPs since 1987, but stepped down shortly before the election citing "business reasons".^[8] The Daily Telegraph reported that Laud had withdrawn his candidacy after being convicted for drink driving in the United States.^[9] Laud was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to keep right, and driving without a licence in the August 1996 incident. Three people in a car struck by Laud suffered physical injuries.^[6]

Business

In the mid-1980s, Laud worked for Strategy Network International (SNI), a lobbying company linked with apartheid South Africa and UNITA, the Angolan armed opposition group. Laud recommended the recruitment of Conservative Members of Parliament Michael Colvin and Neil Hamilton as consultants for SNI.^[10]

During the late 1980s, Laud worked in private equity finance for John Beckwith, and was a director of numerous companies owned and controlled by the Pacific Group.

In 1992 Laud co-founded the lobbying company Ludgate Laud with Michael Colvin.^[11] In 1996 Laud acquired part of Ludgate Laud with an annual fee income of around £500,000 from the public relations company Ludgate Communications.^[12]

Laud is a partner, partnership secretary, Director of the Advisory Board, and Director of Corporate Affairs at wealth management company Stanhope Capital LLP.^[13]

Laud is also co-founder and the executive director of New City Initiative, a think tank and financial lobbying company.^[2]

Writing

In 2015 he published The Problem With Immigrants^[14] through political publishing house Biteback.

Media appearances

Big Brother

Laud was a contestant on Big Brother in 2005, the sixth series of the British reality television series Big Brother, in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public.^[15][16] Laud was the tenth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House after losing in a head-to-head with Eugene Sully.^[17]

Other

Laud makes regular appearances on radio and television, appearing regularly on Sky News, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and BBC Radio 5 Live. Laud appeared on a charity edition of the television quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 17 September 2005, partnering Edwina Currie.^[18] Laud appeared on the BBC television discussion programme Question Time in November 2005.^[19][20] He has also appeared as a guest on Graham Norton's The Bigger Picture.

Laud is a feature writer for The Mail on Sunday.

Personal life

An enthusiastic fox hunter, Laud was made Master of Foxhounds for the New Forest Hunt in 1999, becoming the first black master of foxhounds in the United Kingdom.^[21][22]

Laud is an advocate for the gambling addiction charity GamCare^[23] and the dog protection charity Dogs Trust, the latter of which was his chosen charity when he appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.^[24]

Laud's nickname is "Golly", in reference to his collection of Robertson's jam golliwoggs.^[25] Laud was reported to have been writing his memoirs in September 2005.^[26]

References

External links

• Black and Blue: The Personal Blog of Derek Laud
• 2005 interview with Laud on the BBC television programme The Culture Show