Chris Laidlaw

Chris Laidlaw MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Wellington Central
In office 1992 – 1993
Preceded by	Fran Wilde
Succeeded by	Pauline Gardiner
Personal details
Born	16 November 1943 (1943-11-16) (age 68)
Relations	Sue Kedgley (sister-in-law)
University	Otago University

Place of birth	Dunedin
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	78 kg (170 lb)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Halfback
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1963-1970	New Zealand	57	(48)

Christopher Robert Laidlaw (born 16 November 1943), Rhodes Scholar, All Black, diplomat, MP, talk radio host, author, is a 20th century New Zealand figure.

Academic and Rugby Union

Laidlaw attended Otago University from 1962 to 1966, after which he went overseas with the All Blacks. In 1969 Laidlaw took up his Rhodes Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford.

Civil Servant

In 1972, Laidlaw joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and served as Assistant to Commonwealth Secretary-General Sonny Ramphal. In 1986, Laidlaw became New Zealand's first resident High Commissioner to Harare, representing New Zealand's interests throughout Africa. In 1989, Laidlaw was appointed Race Relations Conciliator.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1992–1993	43rd	Wellington Central		Labour

Laidlaw won the Wellington Central by-election in 1992, following the election of Fran Wilde to the Wellington mayoralty. He failed to win re-election (to the renamed Wellington-Karori electorate) in the 1993 General election, losing to National's Pauline Gardiner.

Laidlaw is a supporter of New Zealand becoming a republic. In 1997 he published remarks allegedly made to him by His Royal Highness Prince Charles during his visit of that year, which appeared to show the Prince implicitly supports a New Zealand republic. Laidlaw later published the claim in his book Rights of Passage, and again in his New Zealand Herald column in March 2005, during Prince Charles' visit. No comment was made by the Prince as to the validity of the comments.

Wellington Regional Council

Laidlaw is a councillor of the Wellington Regional Council, representing the Wellington constituency. He was re-elected at the New Zealand local elections, 2010 with 24,838 votes.^[1] The council has occupied much of his time in recent years. He was elected at the New Zealand local elections, 2007 with 24,757 votes, the greatest number of votes for any candidate that year.^[2] He currently also hosts the Radio New Zealand National Radio Sunday morning slot.

Family

Laidlaw is married to Helen Kedgley, and is a brother-in-law of Green MP Sue Kedgley.

See also

• New Zealand Human Rights Commission

References

1. ^ "2010 Results » Greater Wellington Regional Council". Greater Wellington Regional Council. 2010-10-11. http://www.gw.govt.nz/2010-results/. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
2. ^ "Election results 2007". Greater Wellington Regional Council. 2007-10-15. Archived from the original on 2007-10-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20071028075829/http://gw.govt.nz/story23961.cfm. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 

External links

• University of Otago profile
• NZ Rugby Museum profile
• A Civilising Mission; Otago University
• New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee Rhodes Scholars
• Chris Laidlaw at AllBlacks.com

Persondata
Name	Laidlaw, Christopher Robert
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1943-11-16
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death