Orr, Laurence Percy Story (‘Willy’) (1918–90), politician and company director, was born 16 September 1918 in Belfast, son of the Rev. William Robert Macauley Orr, sometime dean of Dromore, and Evelyn Sarah Orr (née Story). He was educated at Campbell College, Belfast, and TCD. He completed his junior sophister year in 1939 but subsequently departed to serve with the East Lancashire Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, and Life Guards in the second world war. On his return from the war he was employed as a unionist organiser in Co. Down, and in February 1950 was selected as the official Unionist candidate for the newly created constituency of Down South at Westminster. He successfully defeated the Irish Labour candidate, John Macgougan, with a majority of more than 16,000 and retained the seat at successive elections until his retirement from politics at the October 1974 general election.
In 1964 he succeeded Sir David Campbell (qv) as leader of the Ulster Unionists at Westminster and held this position till his retirement in 1974. In contrast to his unassuming predecessor, he frequently occupied the prominent seat at Westminster traditionally reserved for Sir Winston Churchill. This enabled him to capture the attention of the public gallery because when Churchill limped toward his seat on his walking stick, Orr would stand forth and bow before retreating to the backbenches. During his long parliamentary career he spoke regularly on matters relating to Northern Ireland. He also fiercely defended the Church of Ireland and its clergy and resisted ecumenical reforms proposed in the 1960s. In March 1971, for example, he suggested that bishops should concentrate less on politics and sociology and more on the Bible (Times, 29 Mar. 1971). As a director of Pye (Scottish) Telecommunications and a member of the board of Associate Leisure Ltd he had a lifelong interest in broadcasting and communications and was a strong lobbyist for the radio industry in parliament. He was a member of the executive of the British chamber of commerce (1951–6) and was vice-chairman of the conservative backbench broadcasting committee (1959–62).
During the early years of the Troubles he vacillated between an uncompromising and a relatively liberal stance. Although he declared that the civil rights movement represented ‘an alliance between nationalist, extreme republican and IRA elements’ (Times, 11 Oct. 1968), he defeated the hard-line William Craig in a bid for the vice-presidency of the Unionist party in March 1971 and was one of the main forces behind the lifting of the ban on political marches. As imperial grand master of the Orange order 1964–73, to the surprise of some, he stated that he was perfectly happy to attend catholic services such as the funerals of friends and colleagues. In 1972 he voted in parliament against the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1972, which transferred power from Stormont to Westminster; in July he was strongly critical of the attempts of the secretary of state, William Whitelaw (qv), to negotiate with the IRA. In March 1973 he associated himself with Ian Paisley's (qv) United Loyalists Action Group, but by publicly opposing the first mass rally planned by the organisation he quickly severed the connection. He also opposed the proposals of Brian Faulkner (qv) for the future government of Northern Ireland and believed that the Sunningdale agreement (December 1973) was designed to deceive either the people of the Republic or those of Northern Ireland. While he did not condone the loyalist workers’ strike of May 1974, he believed that an urgent general election on the future of Northern Ireland was required. In August 1974 he announced that he would not be standing again, and supported Enoch Powell (1912–98) as his successor at Westminster.
Shortly after his retirement from parliament he co-founded the Middle-Class Association with John Gorst, conservative MP for Hendon North and former colleague at Pye Telecommunications. After a series of objections to the use of the word ‘class’ in the title, the organisation changed its name to ‘The Voice of the Independent Centre’ but still did not attract significant support.
He married (1939) Jean Mary, daughter of F. C. Hughes; they had four sons and one daughter. During the early 1970s, however, Orr's personal life went through a difficult period and in 1976 his marriage of more than thirty-five years was dissolved. He retired to Wiltshire, where his recreations included fishing, painting, and chess. He died 11 July 1990 in a Swindon hospital after a long illness.