Richard Taylor (UK politician)

Richard Thomas Taylor MP MB BChir BA FRCP (born July 7, 1934) is an English doctor turned politician, Independent Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest.

Background and education
The son of Thomas Taylor and his wife Mabel Hickley, Taylor was educated at The Leys School, Clare College, Cambridge, and the former Westminster Medical School, now part of the Imperial College School of Medicine.

Medical career

 * 1959-1961: Registrar at Westminster Hospital, London
 * 1961-1964: Medical Officer, Royal Air Force
 * 1964-1972: hospital doctor in London hospitals
 * 1972-1995: Consultant physician, Kidderminster General Hospital

Parliamentary career
Before entering politics, Taylor was a member of the local Health Authority, chairman of Kidderminster Hospital League of Friends (1996-2001), and a committee member of the Save Kidderminster Hospital Campaign (1997-2001).

Standing for Parliament as an Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern candidate at the 2001 general election, Taylor campaigned largely on a single issue, that of keeping Kidderminster Hospital open, and won with a majority of 18,000. He defeated the incumbent Labour MP and junior minister, David Lock. He was aided in this success by the Liberal Democrats' decision not to put up a candidate against him, and instead to support his campaign. The Liberal Democrats had previously stood down to aid the election of another independent 'anti-sleaze' candidate Martin Bell in Tatton in 1997.

He was re-elected at the 2005 election with a reduced majority of 5,250; again the Liberal Democrats stood aside. Labour were pushed into third place in his constituency. He is the first independent MP to retain a seat in the House of Commons in a second election since Frank Maguire in 1979.

While his speeches in the Commons have been mostly confined to the health service, he has also laid out an atypical collection of political views. These non-health policies include Section 28, the renationalisation of the British railway system, and the availability of cannabis as a controlled drug. He also opposed the Iraq war.

Family
In 1962, Taylor married Ann Brett and they had one son and two daughters. After this marriage was dissolved, in 1990 he married secondly Christine Miller and with her had a further daughter. He currently resides in Kidderminster