John Dunn Laird, Baron Laird, , of Artigarvan (23 April 1944 – 10 July 2018) was a Northern Irish politician,

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

and former chairman of the cross-border Ulster-Scots Agency. In 2013 Laird allegedly offered to lobby for a firm against parliamentary rules. Consequently, he resigned from the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

Career

Whilst Chairman of the Ulster Young Unionist Council in 1970, Laird became the youngest member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, after winning the seat of Belfast Saint Anne's in a by-election caused by the death of his father, Dr Norman Laird OBE. He was expelled from the Ulster Unionist Parliamentary Party in January 1972 when he voted for a

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

censure motion opposing a ban on certain processions planned for The Twelfth. He topped the poll in Belfast West in the

1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper ''Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals'' which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly (1973), Northern ...

opposed to the proposals of the former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the Chief Executive ...

. He repeated this feat as an Ulster Unionist candidate in the 1975 Constitutional Convention election. He established John Laird Public Relations in 1976, which, now called JPR, is Northern Ireland's longest established PR company still in existence. He was created a

on 16 July 1999 as Baron Laird, of Artigarvan in the County of Tyrone. Laird studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Ulster Scots

A proponent of Ulster Scots as a

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

, Lord Laird wanted road signs in Irish, English and Ullans on all roads in Ireland, as " parity of esteem" as signed up for under the Good Friday Agreement. Similarly, he said that the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

should be renamed to ''An Garda Síochána/Hannin Polis''. Laird served as head of the Ulster-Scots Agency, before resigning in April 2004, in protest at a cut in government funding for the agency. Lord Laird found himself at the centre of a minor scandal in 2005, when it was revealed that while chairman of the Ulster-Scots agency, Laird had spent in excess of £2500 of public money on taxis between Belfast and Dublin.

House of Lords

Laird sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as an independent. Laird used

parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties ...

to speak out against the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) in the

. In May 2005 he claimed that Phil Flynn, an advisor to the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

, was active in the IRA. In December that year he said that there were 200 IRA " sleepers" in high places in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. In November 2007 he again used parliamentary privilege to name senior IRA members who he said were responsible for the murder of south

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

man Paul Quinn in October.

Investigation into "paid advocacy" and suspension

In June 2013, following investigations by undercover reporters from the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

, and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, in which he was filmed agreeing to arrange for questions to be raised in Parliament in exchange for a monthly retainer of £2,000, Laird relinquished the Ulster Unionist Party whip and referred himself to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards. On 18 December 2013, the ruling by the Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct resulted in a four-month suspension House of Lords.

Expenses

Laird claimed parliamentary expenses of £73,000 in 2008/09, making him the most expensive peer in the House of Lords for that parliamentary year.

2007 election: Donegal

In December 2006 Laird announced plans to stand in Donegal North-East and Donegal South-West on what he termed a radical Ulster-Scots ticket. He said he intended to use the publicity platform of his candidacy to highlight what he called the double standards of the Irish Government in relation to the Ulster-Scots movement. However, after suffering a mild heart attack he did not stand.UU peer recovering from heart attack
, UTV News, 20 January 2007.

Publications

The following is a list of books, plays, and films for which Lord John Laird has been responsible: * ''Videos Trolleybus Days in Belfast'' (1992) * ''Swansong of Steam in Ulster'' (1993) * ''Waterloo Sunset'' (1994) * ''Rails on the Isle of Wight'' (1994) * ''The Twilight of Steam in Ulster'' (1994) * ''A Struggle to be Heard'' – by a True Ulster Liberal (2010)

Arms

References

External links

Lord Laird Passes Away

Lord Laird website

John Laird, Crossbencher
Stratagem
Ulster's 'Braveheart' on rebel hunt
, Interview with the '' Sunday Tribune'', 22 January 2006 (Newshound)
Debrett's Limited

Parliamentary answers 2010/11. {{DEFAULTSORT:Laird, John 1944 births 2018 deaths Crossbench life peers Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution Scots language activists Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Male writers from Northern Ireland 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Ulster Unionist Party life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts