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We love our randy lord, says Cape townshipDate Posted: Saturday 03-May-2008By Raymond Joseph
Residents of the poverty-stricken township of Masiphumelele know self-made multi-millionaire Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay as a man with a social conscience who has made a huge difference in their lives.
But Irwin Laidlaw, the man who is listed at number 100 in the latest British rich list with a personal fortune of R11,3 billion, and who owns an opulent estate at Cape Town's Noordhoek just a few kilometres from Masi, as it is known by the residents, has a dark secret.
Earlier this week the Good Samaritan and serial donor to good causes confessed he was seeking treatment after suffering from sex addiction for many years.
A spokesperson for Laidlaw said he was heading for Cape Town, where he has booked himself in for six weeks intensive treatment at a rehabilitation centre to help him with his addiction.
His confession came after a sting operation by reporters working for British tabloid the News of the World, which revealed how twice-married Laidlaw, 64, regularly flies R45 000-a-night high-class vice girls and male studs to his Monaco tax haven for cocaine and Viagra-fuelled all-night sex orgies of spanking, bondage and lesbian lust.
One of the recent orgies involved Laidlaw in sex games with four girls, one of them a trilingual bisexual who is also a top Vogue model, and a male gigolo. The gigolo's role was to have sex with the women, who also put on lesbian orgies while Laidlaw watched - when he was not participating himself.
The party cost well above R500 000 - R405 000 for the hookers and R90 000 for the presidential suite in Monte Carlo's luxurious Hermitage Hotel - and that doesn't include the first-class airfares from London for the prostitutes.
One of the madams Laidlaw "does business with", a Manchester housewife called Sarah who runs a London agency called Role Models, told the News of the World: "I only send him class."
The women who worked for her were "all high-class party girls," she said, adding: "I've been with Irwin for years, I know exactly what he wants. He has a sort of light bondage thing. He likes it to be fun, just light domination."
This week the peer's 17-hectare walled Goede Hoop estate in Noordhoek - where he employs two managers, 20 full-time gardeners and 13 maids - was standing empty and staff said they had last seen Laidlaw and his wife Christine at the beginning of April. In the same edition of the News of the World that splashed Laidlaw's sexual antics across its columns, the paper published a contrite letter from the peer, in which he wrote: "I have been fighting sexual addiction for my whole adult life.
"Sexual addiction is comparable to the other better-known addictions such as drugs, alcohol and gambling. Many people suffer different types of this disease. There is no cure for it, and self-help is rarely successful." He apologised from "the bottom of my heart" and said that with the support of his wife he was seeking long-term help, "not to cure me, but to prevent a relapse".
A spokesperson for Laidlaw said later that he had donated R15-million to help others suffering from sex addiction, who could not afford to seek treatment.
This gift is typical of the peer. He recently stepped in with a donation of R9,5-million to help build homes for more than 1 000 Masiphumelele residents who had been left homeless by a devastating fire in the township. Laidlaw was so touched by their plight when he visited the area in 2006 that he offered to contribute towards the cost of building three blocks of flats in the suburb, which will house more than 300 families.
And in his homeland of Scotland, as well as in the UK, he has donated millions of rands towards projects to assist disadvantaged and troubled young people.
He is also a major donor to Britain's Conservative Party and has stumped up almost R400 000 to the campaign coffers of Boris Johnson, who has managed to unseat "Red Ken" Livingstone in mayoral elections in London.
In Masiphumelele, members of the Amakhaya Nguka community organisation, who have met Laidlaw several times since he donated the money for housing, were surprised at the revelations about their benefactor.
Said Boniswa Mbelwa: "We don't care what anyone says about him. He came to see how we lived and he saw what it was like and he donated money. He is a good man, he understands us and we have great respect for him."
Another resident, told of Laidlaw's antics said: "Eish! He's an old man, I am surprised that he is so strong with the women."
Staff at Goede Hoop were equally shocked to hear about Laidlaw's confession and said he was always a paragon of virtue when he was in residence there - "even when his wife is not here".
Another member of staff said she was shocked at the revelations: "He has never brought that kind of woman here, I am surprised that he even knows such people. He is a good man, he loves his wife and I am shocked at this news."
Laidlaw bought the early 19th-century Romanesque manor from the estate of John Aspinall, a British casino and private zoo owner, after his death in 2005 for a record price of just over R100-million.
The garage houses part of his extensive private collection of cars, including a rare 1 001 horsepower Bugatti Veyron.
Locals say he has taken to racing around the area at high speed in a recently acquired, brand-new red Ferrari.
His wife loves horse-racing and last month splashed out R2,5-million on a colt called White Hills at the National Yearling Sales in Johannesburg.
Laidlaw made his fortune after he turned a small US publishing company he bought in 1973 into the Institute for International Research, the world's largest conference organiser. He sold it in 2005 for close to R11,5-billion.
He was made a life peer in June 2004, but has since been criticised for failing to become a UK tax resident after he was appointed to the House of Lords.
He is currently on a leave of absence from the Lords and he and his wife live mainly abroad, dividing their time between their vineyard on the French Riviera, an apartment overlooking the harbour in Monte Carlo and the estate in Noordhoek.
In the UK he owns a grand home in Eaton Square, London, a Scottish manor called The Royal Palace and a stunning 15-bedroom home on 84 acres of parkland in Hampshire.
He also has a passion for sailing and owns a cruising yacht on the Cote d'Azur, a racing yacht in the US, a private jet and several vintage cars, including a 1937 Maserati, which he races around the hairpin bends of Monte Carlo.
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