Dominic Cummings’ uncle and retired judge Sir John Laws, 74, ‘dies after coronavirus diagnosis’
- Sir John Laws, 74, died with Covid-19 following a serious three-week illness
- He first tested negative for the virus, suffering with sepsis and other problems
- Sir John Laws was also the brother of Dominic Cummings’ mother, Morag
- He was considered one of the best authorities on democracy and public law
A retired senior judge and uncle to Downing Street political strategist Dominic Cummings has died with coronavirus.
Sir John Laws, 74, died Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London following a three-week illness.
Laws first tested negative for Covid-19 when admitted to hospital suffering with sepsis and other health problems.
He subsequently contracted the virus and died on an isolated ward, according to the Guardian.
The Right Honourable Sir John Laws (pictured) died Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London
Laws was born John Grant McKenzie Laws, on 10 May, 1945.
He was raised in Easington, County Durham, and studied at Durham School as a King’s Scholar, before going on to Exeter College, Oxford, as a Senior Open Classical Scholar.
Laws was considered one of the country’s best authorities on democracy and public law.
He contended the importance of the British constitution and its superiority to that of parliament in the balance of power.
Laws was made First Junior Treasury Counsel and a Recorder in the mid-1980s, positions he held until he was appointed to the High Court as a Judge in 1992, serving on the Queen’s Bench Division.
Laws was also knighted around the same time.
Laws served on the Queen’s Bench until 1998, and in 1999 rose to Lord Justice of Appeal which he served in until 2016. He was also appointed to the Privy Council.
Laws was also the brother of Dominic Cummings’ mother, Morag.
A good friend, Nigel Pleming QC, described him as ‘one of the greatest lawyers of his generation’.
Another, Dinah Rose QC, said he was one of the ‘greatest’ advocates she had seen, and ‘a man of enormous charm and erudition’.
Laws’ daughter Margaret Grace was permitted to see her father before his death, wearing full protective equipment, according to Pleming.
‘John was the most gregarious of men, with a quick and lively wit, who enjoyed life in all its richness,’ said Mark Hill QC, chair of the Ecclesiastical Law Society, talking to the Guardian.
‘May he rest in peace and rise in glory,’ he added.