Lord Laird: My links with him went back to the 1960s
My links with John began in the Young Unionist movement back in the 1960s and we were close friends and associates in the political sphere both at Stormont and at Westminster.
John was an outgoing personality with media skills that were to the benefit of unionism during the difficult years of the seventies and eighties.
My sympathy goes out to his wife and family.
Jim Nicholson, Ulster Unionist MEP