Derek Laud

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Derek Laud
FRSA
Born
Derek George Henry Laud

(1964-08-09) 9 August 1964 (age 59)
Chelsea, London, England
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Occupation(s)Speechwriter, lobbyist
EmployerStanhope Capital
Known forBig Brother
Websitewww.dereklaud.org.uk

Derek George Henry Laud FRSA (born 9 August 1964) is the Chairman of the Foundation Board of Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, and the first elected male Hon. Fellow in the history of the college. He also chairs the North American Committee of Lucy Cavendish College. He is a former Chairman of One Stop Car shop PLC and chaired the Board of Ravenstone House Group of Schools in the UK. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Laud is Visiting Professor at London South Bank University in the Faculty of Law and Political Science. He is a former British lobbyist, and specialist in financial services sector and regulatory matters, and was one time adviser to all five of the main UK financial regulators, including FIMBRA, LAUTRO, IMRO and the SIB. All these regulators folded into the Personal Investment Authority, where Laud was chief adviser to Sir Gordon Downey, the former government Auditor General. The PIA was replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). He has wide business interests, including as a Partner in the Private Banking sector. He is also senior adviser at Stern & Co a Rothschild family wealth management company. He currently sits on the shadow board for the Oversea Territories and is Executive Director. Laud was a one time political adviser, speechwriter, and journalist, who is a regular contributor to the Daily Maverick and Mail on Sunday Newspapers. He received public attention when he was a contestant on the 2005 series of the British reality television show Big BrotherLaud is co-founder and the Executive Director of the New City Initiative, a think tank for the finance sector.[1] He is also a partner, partnership secretary, Director of the advisory board, and Director of Corporate Affairs at wealth management company Stanhope Capital LLP, where Lord Browne of Madingley, the former Group CEO of BP chairs the advisory board, upon which Laud sits. Laud was the first black member of the Conservative Monday Club and first black master of foxhounds in the United Kingdom and is entitled to use the letters, MFH after his name.

Early life

Derek Laud was born on 9 August in Chelsea, London. He attended Webber Douglas in South Kensington, London and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where he studied at Peterhouse, Theology and Philosophy of Religion. He holds a number of degrees, and is also a FRSA, MA and MSc and Is currently a PhD candidate.

Career

Politics

He was asked by David Cameron and Francis Maude MP to be Mayor of London Candidate by declined. He was appointed to the conservative A list of candidates in 2010 but decided not to apply for a parliamentary constituency.

Laud was the first special adviser appointed to the House of Lords Rural Economy Group, where members included the Duke of Westminster, Lord Vincent, Lord Wade and the Earl of Radnor.

Laud was briefly a member of the Conservative Monday Club. In October 1984, he produced a policy paper under the auspices of the club's Immigration and Race Relations Committee titled "The Law, Order and Race Relations". He considered himself on the liberal wing of the club, and resigned following disagreements about apartheid South Africa. He later wrote a paper on how to apply cultural sanctions on the regime.

Laud subsequently became a researcher and special adviser, working for Conservative Members of Parliament and government ministers in the mid-1980s. He also worked as an advisor to Sir Gordon Downey, the former Auditor General, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and Chairman of the Personal Investment Authority.[1] He was Private Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Lord Rees QC, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Trade.

In the second half of the 1980s, he became an aide and speechwriter for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[2][3] During this period, Laud also contributed to speeches for other leading Conservative politicians, including Alan Clark and Michael Heseltine.[2][4] Laud was a campaign aide and fundraiser for then Prime Minister John Major during the 1992 general election campaign.[3]

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".[5] The Daily Telegraph reported that Laud had withdrawn his candidacy after being convicted for drink driving in the United States.[6] He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to keep right in August 1996 incident. Three people in a car struck by Laud suffered minor physical injuries.[3]

In May 2019 Laud stood for the Liberal Democrats in Witney, for election to West Oxfordshire District Council.[7] and was one of the most severe critics of prime minister Theresa May, writing in the FInancial Times that she was ‘characterless, incompetent and even her best would never be good enough’. He blamed his long term friend, former prime minister, David Cameron for promoting someone so obviously ‘devoid of interpersonal skills and limited intellectual capacity’. He was more recently an enthusiastic aid for the Rt. Hon. Penny Mordaunt MP and part of her leadership election campaign to become prime minister in June 2022 and again in October of the same year.

Business

In the mid-1980s, Laud worked for Strategy Network International (SNI),[8] a lobbying company linked with South Africa and UNITA, the Angolan armed opposition group. However, he headed up the financial regulatory arm of the business. He recommended the recruitment of life long friend and business partner Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Colvin.

During the late 1980s, Laud was head hunted into in private equity by the substantial business figure Sir John Beckwith, and was a director of numerous companies owned and controlled by the Pacific Group.[citation needed]

In 1992, Laud co-founded the lobbying company Ludgate Laud with Michael Colvin.[9] In 1996 Laud acquired part of Ludgate Laud then with an annual fee income of around £500,000 and with prestigious clients, such as Johnson and Johnson, British Steel and the Institute of Actuaries, the Personal Investment Authority and Takecare PLC .[10]

He is a partner, partnership secretary, director of the advisory board, and Director of Corporate Affairs at wealth management company Stanhope Capital LLP.[11]

Laud is also co-founder and the executive director of New City Initiative, a think tank and financial lobbying company.[1]

Writing

In 2015 he published The Problem With Immigrants[12] through political publishing house Biteback and has recently turned to songwriting. Laud’s first song, ‘Over My Shoulder’ with singer Carletheia was released in September 2022.

Media appearances

Big Brother

In 2005, Laud was a contestant on 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.[13] He was the tenth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House after losing in a head-to-head with Eugene Sully.[14]

Other

Laud appeared on a charity edition of the television quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 17 September 2005, partnering Edwina Currie.[15] Laud appeared on the BBC television discussion programme Question Time in November 2005.[16][17]

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.[18][19]

Laud is an advocate for the gambling addiction charity GamCare[20] 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?[21]

Laud's nickname is "Golly", in reference to his collection of Robertson's jam golliwoggs.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c "NCI: Board of Directors". New City Initiative. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b Stone-Lee, Ollie (5 October 2005). "Big Brother Derek Backs Cameron". BBC News.
  3. ^ a b c Tuma, Debbie (5 March 1997). "Ex-thatcher Aide Sued In L.i. Crash". New York Daily News. Retrieved 11 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Black Tory leads white witch into the transparent Big Brother house". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 28 May 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  5. ^ Sengupta, Kim (22 March 1997). "Bernie Grant's foe faces deselection". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  6. ^ Wormesley, Tara; Foster, Peter (13 August 2001). "Dinner guests whose testimony will count". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  7. ^ Roberts, James (6 March 2019). "Derek Laud, ex-Big Brother star, to run for Witney West seat". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  8. ^ Nixon, Ron (2016). South Africa's Global Propaganda War. London: Pluto Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780745399140. OCLC 959031269.
  9. ^ Roth, Andrew (25 February 2000). "Obituary: Michael Colvin". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  10. ^ Dowman, Rebecca (12 June 1996). "Ludgate Laud splits in two as Laud goes solo". PR Week UK (via Brand Republic). Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  11. ^ "Stanhope Capital: The Stanhope Team". Stanhope Capital. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  12. ^ Laud, Derek (27 January 2015). The Problem With Immigrants. Biteback. p. 336. ISBN 9781849547215. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  13. ^ "Millions tune into Big Brother 6". BBC News. 28 May 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Big Brother boot for Derek Laud". BBC News. 5 August 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  15. ^ "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?: Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  16. ^ "This week's panel". BBC. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  17. ^ "Housemate attacks Makosi decision". BBC News. 18 November 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  18. ^ Cook, Emma (18 July 1999). "Derek Laud; Melvyn Bragg; Harry Enfield; PJ Harvey; Ivan Massow; Simon Bates; Paula Hamilton; Gary Bushell; What do all these people have in common? They support hunting". The Independent on Sunday. London. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  19. ^ Pook, Sally (4 September 2003). "Black woman is new face of the hunt". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  20. ^ "Charities 'need to inform donors about trusteeships'". Capital Society. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". Locate TV. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  22. ^ Laud, Derek (18 January 2009). "My nickname is Golly, but I don't insist on it". The Independent on Sunday. London. Retrieved 11 March 2012.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Derek_Laud&oldid=1122572897"