Lord Laird obituary

Ulster Unionist politician forced to resign from the party over a lobbying scandal who was a great defender of Ulster Scots cultureJohn Laird, Lord Laird, who has died aged 74, was pitched into a political career as the youngest MP at Stormont in 1970, at the age of 26. His father, Norman, the Ulster Unionist MP for St Anne’s, Belfast, died in April that year and John won the seat in the consequent byelection. He was catapulted out of politics in 2013 after being caught by reporters from t