   eleanor fulton laing, nÃ©e pritchard, (born 1 february 1958) is a british politician. laing is the conservative member of parliament for epping forest, a constituency she has represented since 1997. in october 2013 fellow mps elected her as a deputy speaker of the house of commons, replacing nigel evans. ==early life== laing was born in paisley, renfrewshire in 1958 and raised in the nearby village of kilmacolm, where she attended the local st columba's school. in 1976 she left for the university of edinburgh, graduating with bachelor of arts and bachelor of laws degrees.http://www.st-columbas.org/userfiles/columban%20december%2008(1).pdf she was the first female president of the edinburgh university students' association. she worked as a solicitor in edinburgh and the city of london. ==parliamentary career== laing contested paisley north in the 1987 general election. when laing was first elected to the epping forest constituency in [[united kingdom general election, 1997|1997 general el
1958_births Alumni_of_the_University_of_Edinburgh British_female_MPs Conservative_Party_(UK)_MPs Living_people Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_English_constituencies UK_MPs_1997a2001 UK_MPs_2001a05 UK_MPs_2005a10 UK_MPs_2010a