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Irvine Alan Stewart Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw (born 22 December 1942 in Keith, Banffshire, Scotland) is a Scottish businessman, and a former member of the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
. 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. In the 2020 edition, he was ranked the 180th wealthiest person in the UK, with an estimated net worth of £787 million, a decrease of £4 million from the previous year.


Biography

The son of Margaret and Roy Laidlaw, a
Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Mora ...
mill-owner, Laidlaw was educated at
Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelle ...
,
Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , t ...
and New York City's
Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest bus ...
. 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 IIR in 2005 for a sum believed to be in the order of £768m. 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. The first business centre opened in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
, and soon the company opened up another centre in
Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the ...
, Berkshire. Other centres were added, and in 2009 a total of 13 centres made up the organisation. In 2015, the University of Leeds launched an official opening for the £26 million Laidlaw Library, named after Irvine Laidlaw, who had previously studied economics at the University in the 1960s. His £9 million donation is the largest the university has received from any donor. Laidlaw part owns a $2.1 billion wind-farm project, and earlier this year secured the largest clean-energy financing in 2015 from eight lenders, which included Deutsche Bank AG. Laidlaw previously owned and raced a
Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
, which won
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
a number of times throughout the 1950s, along with a number of other vintage cars, including a 1962 Ferrari GTO. in 2013, Irvine Laidlaw stopped racing. He recently sold a collection of classic sports cars to raise £17 million.


Charity donations

In 2004, Laidlaw said that he would over the next 20–30 years donate most of his fortune to helping disadvantaged young people. His main vehicle used to be 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 (no longer operational). Currently, he is Chairman of the Irvine Laidlaw Foundation, simply known as the Laidlaw Foundation, which he set up to aid the advancement of education, especially the education of deprived young people, in particular by means of grants and other forms of financial assistance to institutions which are engaged in the provision of educational services in any part of the world. The Foundation's activity consists of three core programmes: * The Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Scholarship Programme - as of 2021, the scholarship programme operates in 13 universities around the world:
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
,
Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...
,
National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...
,
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
,
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
,
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
,
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...
,
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...
,
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
,
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
,
University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...
, and
University of Rwanda University of Rwanda is a public collegiate, multi campus university based in Kigali, Rwanda. Formed in 2013 through the merger of previously independent education institutions, the University of Rwanda is the largest education institution in R ...
. Every year, the programme funds cohorts of around 25 students at every institution for two summers to complete a research project with an academic supervisor, and undergo training to develop their leadership skills. * The Laidlaw Women's Business Education Programme - full and partial scholarships are awarded to women with financial constraints to complete MBA's in order to help them get into senior roles and ultimately achieve gender parity in industries around the world. The programme currently operates in
Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest bus ...
,
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...
, and in March 2020 it was also announced that
Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools. Oxford School of Management ...
will join as well. So far, Laidlaw donated $2 million to
Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest bus ...
, £3.69m to
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...
, and £1.35m to
Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools. Oxford School of Management ...
as part of this scholarship programme. * The Laidlaw Schools Trust - a multi-academy trust founded in 2008, which currently consists of 7 academies in the North East of England with 5500+ students and 850+ staff in total: Excelsior Academy,
Academy 360 Academy 360 may refer to: * Academy 360, Sunderland Academy 360 (formerly Pennywell Comprehensive School) is a mixed all-through school located in the Pennywell area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Pennywell Comprehensive School was ...
, Atkinson Road Primary Academy, South Hylton Primary Academy, Thomas Walling Primary Academy, Westgate Hill Primary Academy, and
Sedgefield Community College Sedgefield Community College, which is in the laidlaw trust, is an coeducational secondary school located in Sedgefield in County Durham, England. History The school takes in students from most of the surrounding places including Sedgefield ...
. He has also donated: * £2 million to
The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...
* After
Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland (council area), ...
Council earmarked Rothiemay Primary School for closure, Laidlaw donated funds to a parents campaign which successfully kept 21 schools open * Donated R9 million to fund the Amakhaya Ngoku housing project * Laidlaw scholarship at Newcastle University, in which he funds 50% of the funding along with the university. * Supporting the Glyndebourne Festival production. * Donating £100,000 to Scottish Opera * Private investor for Ben Ainslie Racing * Donor to the Rural Education Access Programme * £40,000 to Keith Grammar School, to fund a scheme to help senior pupils prepare for the world of work * £1 million to
Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelle ...
his former school; despite having disliked 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 is named Laidlaw House. * £9 million to the
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...
to support the development of the new undergraduate library, the Laidlaw Library, which opened in May 2015. In 2007, he set up the Laidlaw Youth Trust which from 2007 to 2009 spent over £6 million 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. 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 (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
through a donation from Lord Laidlaw who is an honorary graduate of the University.


Conservative Party donations

One of the largest financial backers of the UK's
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, Laidlaw was made a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Laidlaw, of Rothiemay in Banffshire on 14 June 2004. According to the records of the UK Electoral Commission, on 27 November 2007, Laidlaw gave a donation of £2,990,532.20 to the Conservatives. Laidlaw donated £25,000 to the 2008
London Mayor The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...
al election campaign of
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
.


Tax status

In 2008, Lord Laidlaw was described by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' as a "Monaco-based
tax exile A tax exile is a person who leaves a country to avoid the payment of income tax or other taxes. The term refers to an individual who already owes money to the tax authorities or wishes to avoid being liable in the future for taxation at what they ...
". 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. Criticism by
Dennis Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Coddenham Henry Dennistoun "Dennis" Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Coddenham, (born 19 July 1945) is a British businessman and former chairman of HBOS. He sits on the crossbenches in the House of Lords. Early life and education Stevenson was born on 19 ...
, chair of the
House of Lords Appointments Commission The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent advisory non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It has two roles: *to recommend at least two people a year for appointment as non-party-political life peers who sit on the ...
, 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. In 2010 following the enactment of the
Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (c. 25), or CRAG Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on UK constitutional law which affected the civil service and the ratification of treaties, and made other significant c ...
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.


Personal life


General

Laidlaw and his wife Christine divide their time between an apartment in
Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
overlooking the harbour; and their South African home, an early 20th-century 23,200 m2 estate in Noordhoek, near
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
. At the time of the purchase, in November 2005, it was the country's most expensive property, bought for R106 million.


Sex life allegations

In April 2008, Laidlaw was the target of a sting operation staged by investigative journalist
Mazher Mahmood Mazher Mahmood (born 22 March 1963) is an undercover British journalist who was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Before his conviction, he worked mainly for the tabloid press. He spent 20 years working for the ''News ...
on behalf of the British tabloid ''
The News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...
,'' which revealed that Laidlaw hired up to five £3,000
vice girls ''Vice Girls'' is a 1997 American film directed by Richard Gabai and starring Lana Clarkson. It was made by Sunset Films, the film production company of Jim Wynorski and Cinetel, and was released through Concorde Pictures. Premise Three policewo ...
at a time for all-night
orgies In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party consisting of at least five members where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swing ...
involving
spanking Spanking is a form of corporal punishment involving the act of striking, with either the palm of the hand or an implement, the buttocks of a person to cause physical pain. The term spanking broadly encompasses the use of either the hand or im ...
,
bondage Bondage may refer to: Restraints *Physical restraints **Bondage (BDSM) Bondage in the BDSM subculture, is the practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation. A partn ...
and
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
sex at a Monaco hotel.


Hobbies


Motor Racing

Laidlaw regularly competes in historic car racing around the world with his
Porsche 904 The Porsche 904 is an automobile which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. It was officially called Porsche Carrera GTS due to the same naming rights problem that required renaming the Porsche 901 to Porsche 911. History After ...
GTS, Porsche 904/6,
Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. ...
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 The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver P ...
to his extensive car collection, which is sometimes seen between Noordhoek and Cape Town, on the world-famous coastal road
Chapman's Peak Drive Chapman's Peak is a mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek in Cape Town, South Africa. The western flank of the mountain falls sharply for hundreds of metres into the Atlantic Ocean, and a road, know ...
.


Motor Yachts

Laidlaw has owned various luxury motor yachts with the most highprofile being Fedship built motor yacht, the ''Lady Christine'', in 2003.


Sailboat

Laidlaw has been active within the yacht racing for most of his working life. He has won high-profile events including
Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
Regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...
and the Round the Island Race. Highly active on the maxi racing scene, he is a member of the
Royal Thames Yacht Club The Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world, and the oldest yacht club in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are located at 60 Knightsbridge, London, England, overlooking Hyde Park. The club ...
. Some of his yachts are as follows:


Arms


References


External links


Superyacht ''Lady Christine'' at Superyacht TimesLord Laidlaw
at
TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembl ...

Abbey Business CentresThe Laidlaw Library
at the
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...
.
Irvine Laidlaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, Irvine 1943 births Living people People educated at Merchiston Castle School Alumni of the University of Leeds Columbia Business School alumni Scottish businesspeople Conservative Party (UK) life peers Scottish Conservative Party politicians Scottish billionaires People from Keith, Moray British car collectors Conservative Party (UK) donors Scottish expatriates in Monaco British expatriates in Monaco Life peers created by Elizabeth II