Peer of the Week: Lord Taylor of Warwick
Author: Jack Maizels
Published on Jul 03, 2012
Our Peer of the Week series aims to shed some light on the members of the House of Lords who contribute to making laws in the UK. Each week, we’ll look at the chosen Peer’s background, voting and attendance records as well as any controversy associated with their actions, and question whether these really are the best people to be involved in the legislative process.
Who he is:
- Born John David Beckett Taylor, he was given a peerage in 1996, becoming the first black Conservative peer in the Lords after a recommendation from the then Prime Minister, John Major
- Although he stopped practicing after joining the Lords, he started his career as a barrister in 1978, joining the same chambers as Justice Secretary Ken Clarke
- He has been also a special advisor to the Home Office in the early 1990s and in 2002, he ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Chairman of the BBC, an organisation he described as being “overrun with clone-like young ladies who drive me mad”
Political Involvement:
- His political career began as a Councillor for Solihull between 1986 and 1990
- He also stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives on two separate occasions in 1987 for Birmingham Perry Barr and for Cheltenham in 1992, failing both times to be elected into office
- However, his association with the Conservatives ended in 2010, when he resigned the Whip after being charged with falsely claiming expenses
Attendance and Voting Records:
- He has voted 257 times since January 2000, and voted with the rest of his Party on every single occasion
- However, he has not voted since December 2010
- In the last 3 months of 2010, he attended the House on 17 occasions, voting 5 times and claiming £5,202.70 tax free in expenses
Controversy:
- In the 2009 expenses scandal, it was exposed that Taylor claimed £11,277 in travel and overnight subsistence by registering his main residence as a house in Oxford, rather than the in Ealing, West London, where he actually lived
- The house was owned by his half-nephew’s partner, neither of whom had any knowledge that their home was being used to claim expenses
- He was found guilty in May 2011 and was jailed for a year, though was released early just months later in September
- Following the scandal, he was banned for life from returning to the profession of law, having ceased practicing years before the ruling
- However, he is now allowed to return to the Lords following a 12 month suspension and the repayment of the £24,311.70 total he had wrongly claimed
- Whilst in the House, he has voted on several occasions against equal gay rights, including for allowing only married couples to adopt and against repealing section 28, which banned any teaching of homosexuality in schools