Lord Taylor: Role model disgraced
AS a working class black man, John Taylor fought racism on the streets, at the Bar and on the election trail.
The son of Jamaican parents, Taylor was head boy at his Birmingham grammar school.
After university, he became a barrister in 1978 joining the same chambers as the future Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke. His hopes of becoming a Tory MP were dashed at Cheltenham in the 1992 general election.
Taylor was the victim of “horrific, horrible and distasteful” racism during the campaign, the court was told.
As Baron Taylor of Warwick, he strived to help black men succeed
Four years later, the then Prime Minister John Major approached him to become Britain’s first black Tory peer. Taylor said: “I was gobsmacked – rooted to the spot.”
He and Katherine, his wife of 24 years divorced in 2005. They have three children.
As Baron Taylor of Warwick, he strived to help black men succeed and keep them out of trouble. Last night, he sat in his cell with his reputation destroyed by a “single, monumental error of judgment”.