 | 'The last 10 days have been difficult for us all in the SNP, but we now have to get on with the task of fighting a by-election and keeping the anti-Scottish Tories from winning Moray.' Richard Lochhead MSP, 2 nd April 2006. |  |
| 'The last 10 days have been difficult for us all in the SNP, but we now have to get on with the task of fighting a by-election and keeping the anti-Scottish Tories from winning Moray.' Richard Lochhead MSP, 2 nd April 2006. | |
One of the richest multimillionaires in Scotland was named last night on the list of backers who have lent the Conservative Party nearly £16million.
Lord Laidlaw, whose family were involved in Keith's once-thriving textile industry, loaned the party £3.5million.
He is among 13 supporters with serious loans outstanding disclosed by the Tory Party in the latest twist in the alleged loans for peerages scandal.
But the disclosures, more than two weeks after Labour "came clean" over its loans, left critics complaining that the names of those who loaned a further £5million are being kept secret after the party paid back their money.
Tory Party chairman Francis Maude said: "We believe it would have been wrong for us to reveal the identities of lenders without their permission."
He said Lord Laidlaw's loan increased recently along with a £3.6million advance from former party treasurer Lord Ashcroft as the party struggled to deal with the issue.
Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay, the Banffshire-born philanthropist who sold his international events company the Institute for International Research for £768million, is widely believed to have bankrolled the Scottish Conservative Party since support for it collapsed under former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
He reputedly donated £1million to the Conservatives in the year before the Electoral Commission introduced rules which meant large gifts had to be registered and is thought to have given more than £2million to the party in the aftermath of its disastrous election campaign in Scotland in 1997, helping stave off the threat of bankruptcy.
He was given a seat in the House of Lords in 2004, where he took the title Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay.
Listed as the sixth-richest Scot, ranking just below Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling in the Sunday Times Rich List, he announced two years ago he would give £20million a year to charity, much of it to help young people.
The 63-year-old left Keith during the 1960s. He ended up running the Institute for International Research which specialised in publishing and organising global conferences.
He launched the Laidlaw Youth Project with an initial donation of £1million, helped to fund a ground-breaking vocational education initiative at Keith Grammar School, and has supported the Keith Loft Project, which helps disadvantaged young people.
The Conservative lenders' list described Lord Laidlaw as "one of Scotland's most generous philanthropists", supporting charitable projects across Scotland and in England.
Na h-Eileanan an lar SNP MP Angus MacNeil, whose letter to Scotland Yard led to the police investigation into the loans for peerages claims initially against Labour, said publication of the Tory list was "yet another twist", adding: "This whole scenario stinks more and more."
Mr MacNeil added: "A period of quarantine would be a good idea between donations and loans and the award of peerages would remove any suggestion of scandal."
SNP leader and Banff and Buchan MP Alex Salmond contrasted the loans with the £200,000 his party spent on the last general election campaign, adding: "We were not selling honours."
The terms of the Conservative loans were not disclosed, though Mr Maude claimed they were "commercial".
He said the party was also writing to the Electoral Commission to offer confidential access to its records.
Mr Maude added: "In the last few weeks a number of lenders have turned their loans into donations and their names will appear in the relevant returns to the Electoral Commission."
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