Constituency : Buteshire 1905-10
The attrition went on as Norman took Buteshire which had been Tory since his father stepped down in 1868.He won by 34 votes. There had been talk of an independent tariff reformer standing but his supporters were happy that the Tory candidate was a firm supporter of Chamberlain's proposals. Norman was accused of hypocrisy on the issue of Chinese coolie labour but was able to prove he didn't use indentured labour on his sugar plantations. He also received support from Catholic voters. on Home Rule.
Norman was the son of the former MP for the seat, the Arctic explorer James Lamont. He was educated at Winchester and Downton Agricultural College. Agriculture remained his primary interest as an adult. He was interested in Scottish history particularly that of his own family, the clan Lamont. He contested Buteshire in 1900 and lost by 195 votes. He became Honorary Secretary of the Scottish Liberal Association in 1904. He was a Presbyterian.
Norman held on in 1906 by 120 votes. He became unpaid Parliamentary Private Secretary to Campbell-Bannerman. In 1909 he switched to the same role for Churchill at the Board of Trade. He sat on a departmental committee on agricultural education and chaired a committee on labour exchanges in 1909.
Norman lost the seat in January 1910 by 159 votes. He declined to stand in December and went off to his sugar plantation in Trinidad. He served on the Legislative Council of Trinidad and Tobago from 1915 to 1923. He was a Governor of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture from 1921 to 1945.
Norman succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1913.
He died in 1949 after being injured by a bull on his estates aged 79.
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