John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney

The Right Honourable The Lord Kilclooney PC (NI)
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Strangford
In office 25 June 1998 – 7 March 2007
Preceded by	Assembly Established
Succeeded by	Michelle McIlveen
Member of the UK Parliament for Strangford
In office 9 June 1983 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Constituency Established
Succeeded by	Iris Robinson
Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland
In office 10 June 1979 – 15 June 1989
Preceded by	Parliament Established
Succeeded by	Jim Nicholson
Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for South Tyrone
In office 25 November 1965 – 30 March 1972
Preceded by	William Frederick McCoy
Succeeded by	Parliament Abolished
Personal details
Born	24 December 1937
Nationality	British
Political party	Crossbench (formerly) Ulster Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Mary Todd
Children	6
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Religion	Presbyterian

John David Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, PC (NI) (born 24 December 1937) is a former Ulster Unionist Party MP and a life peer. He was deputy leader of the UUP from 1995 to 2001, and a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Career and family

Taylor was educated at The Royal School, Armagh, and The Queen's University of Belfast (BSc). He married Mary Todd in 1970 and has six children. Lord Kilclooney owns Alpha Newspapers which operates local newspaper titles in Northern Ireland and the Republic. He is a member of the Farmers Club in London, and the County Club in Armagh City.

Lord Kilclooney's political career began as MP for South Tyrone in the Northern Ireland House of Commons between 1965 and 1972 and served in the government of Northern Ireland as Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In February 1972, he survived an assassination attempt by the Official Irish Republican Army. Two men, including Joe McCann (who was himself shot dead some months afterwards whilst evading arrest) raked his car with bullets, hitting Taylor five times in the head. Taylor survived, but needed extensive reconstructive surgery on his jaw. Despite this, Taylor soon re-entered politics. He represented Fermanagh & South Tyrone in the short-lived Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973 and dissolved in 1974, following the collapse of the power-sharing Executive.^[1]

He became a Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland in 1979, remaining an MEP until 1989. On 20 January 1987,^[2] Taylor left the European Democrats, with whom the Conservatives sat, to join the controversial European Right group.^[3]

He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for North Down. He then became MP for Strangford in 1983, until 2001. He was a member of Castlereagh Borough Council from 1993–1997. In February 1989 he joined the "hard right" Conservative Monday Club and appears on the list of their speakers at the Annual Conference of its Young Members' Group at the United Oxford & Cambridge Club in Pall Mall, on 18 November 1989, when he spoke on 'The Union and Northern Ireland'.

Following the 2001 general election, on 17 July he was created a life peer as Baron Kilclooney, of Armagh in the County of Armagh,^[4] sitting as a crossbencher. He sat on the Northern Ireland Policing Board between 1998 and 2006. He continued to sit as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly until his retirement prior to the elections in March 2007. He remains the only active politician to have participated in all levels of government in Northern Ireland, from local council, the Parliament of Northern Ireland, Westminster, Europe, all previous failed Assemblies and Conventions and the current incarnation of the Assembly.

In January 2012, Taylor wrote to The Scotsman newspaper asserting that Scotland should be subject to partition, depending on the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum.^[5]

Arms

Arms of John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney

Coronet A Coronet of a Baron Crest A Tailor Bird Or grasping a Bush eradicated Azure enflamed Or Escutcheon Azure issuing in base three Representations of the Scrabo Tower Argent with windows framed and Pinnacles Or each ensigned by a Viking Helm Argent horned Or Supporters On either side an Irish Elk Gules unguled and attired Or resting the exterior forehoof upon an Ulster Gatepost Argent Motto A While Fer Wark An A While Fer Spoartin

See also

• List of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Lords

Footnotes

1. Details of assassination attempt, cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 24 October 2015.
2. "A Chronology of the Conflict – 1987". Conflict Archive on the Internet. University of Ulster. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
3. "John Taylor: Profile". BBC News. 30 January 2001.
4. The London Gazette: no. 56281. p. 8601. 20 July 2001.
5. "Partition could come north of Border". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.

External links

• Stormont Biography
• BBC Profile
• Cain Biography
• Northern Ireland Policing Board
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Taylor