Derek Laud

Derek George Henry Laud (born 9 August 1964) is a British banker, author, journalist, broadcaster and visiting professor.

He has other wide business interests.

He is the Chairman of the Foundation Board of Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge.

He also Chairs the North American Committee for Cambridge.

He has been an accredited journalist and has written on social and political affairs, travel and tennis.

He was recently appointed to the board of Heritage Charity London and is a non-executive director of Miraculous Foods.

Laud is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

He is Pro Chancellor at London South Bank University and visiting professor in the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences.

He is a former political lobbyist, with specialist knowledge of the financial services regulatory sector.

Laud is a partner in the private banking sector and clients include ultra high net worth individuals.

He is also Senior Adviser at Stern & Co, a Rothschild and Goldsmith family wealth management company.

He currently sits on the board of the Overseas Territories and is executive director.

Laud has been a political adviser and professional speechwriter.

Laud is co-founder and executive director of the New City Initiative, a think tank for the finance sector.

He is also a partner, partnership secretary, Director of the advisory board, and Director of Global Corporate Affairs at wealth management company Stanhope Capital LLP.

Laud was the first black member of the Conservative Monday Club and made history as the first black master of foxhounds in the United Kingdom.

Derek Laud was born on 9 August 1964 in Chelsea, London.

He was educated at Oxford University and the University of Cambridge.

He played university tennis.

His degrees include an MA and M.Sc.

(with Distinction).

Laud was asked by David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, and Francis Maude, Conservative Party chairman, to be the party's candidate for Mayor of London.

He declined and Boris Johnson was subsequently chosen.

He was the first special adviser appointed to the House of Lords Rural Economy Group, where members included the Duke of Westminster (for whom he wrote speeches), the Earl of Radnor, and Lord Vincent.

Laud was briefly a member of the Conservative Monday Club.

Laud subsequently became a researcher and special adviser, working for Conservative Members of Parliament and government ministers in the mid to late 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.

He was Private Secretary to Lord Rees, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Trade.

He also acted as a researcher for Sir Spencer Perceval, the Solicitor-General.

In the second half of the 1980s, he became an aide and speechwriter for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

During this period, Laud also contributed to speeches for other leading Conservative politicians, including Alan Clark and Michael Heseltine.

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 and was a vocal critic of the British government and its apparent lack of interest in dismantling apartheid.

Laud was a campaign aide for then Prime Minister John Major in 1990 and the 1992 general election campaign.

In the 1997 general election, Laud was selected as 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".

The Daily Telegraph reported that Laud had withdrawn his candidacy after being convicted of drink driving in the United States.

Three people in a car struck by Laud suffered minor physical injuries.

He received public attention when he was a contestant on the 2005 series of the British reality television show Big Brother.

In May 2019 Laud stood for the Liberal Democrats in Witney for election to West Oxfordshire District Council, as a protest against the Windrush scandal.