Dari Taylor
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Dari Jean Taylor (''née'' Jones; born 13 December 1944) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stockton South between the
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
and 2010 general elections.


Biography

Taylor was born into a staunch Labour Party-supporting family in
Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (, 'large') and t ...
, South Wales, in December 1944. She attended Ynyshir Girls' School before moving to Burnley Municipal College when her father, Daniel Jones, was elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
in 1959. He remained the MP for Burnley until 1983. She graduated with a BA from the
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
and an MA from the
University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...
, then lectured at a number of colleges of Further Education. Taylor was active in the
Trade Union movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...
from 1990 until her election to Parliament in 1997. She initially worked as a researcher and in 1993 became the Regional Educational Officer for the
GMB Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...
in the Northern Region. She was also an elected member of Sunderland Metropolitan Council between 1986 and the time of her election to Parliament. She describes her interests as issues relating to women, health, the economy, industry, defence, international development, disabilities, drugs and crime and all aspects of child welfare, especially adoption.


Parliamentary career

Taylor was selected to stand for election for Labour through an
all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...
. Taylor was elected as Member of Parliament for Stockton South in 1997, until losing the seat at the 2010 general election. Taylor served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lewis Moonie and Lord Bach (Ministry of Defence) from 2001 to 2003 and then as Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Hazel Blears Hazel Anne Blears (born 14 May 1956) is a British former Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) successively for the constituencies of Salford and Salford and Eccles between 1997 and 2015. One of 101 female ...
,
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minister between 2003 and 2005. Her latest such position was again as a Parliamentary Private Secretary, to
Phil Hope Philip Ian Hope (born 19 April 1955) is a former British Labour and Co-operative politician who was the member of parliament (MP) for Corby from 1997 until 2010, when he lost his seat to the Conservatives. He held several ministerial roles dur ...
at the
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in 2008–09. She was the chairman of the
North East Regional Select Committee The North East Regional Select Committee was one of nine regional Select committee (United Kingdom), select committees of the British House of Commons, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The establishment of the committee w ...
and a member of the
Intelligence and Security Committee The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, appointed to oversee the work of the UK intelligence community. The committee was established in 1994 by the ...
. Taylor was secretary of Labour Friends of
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, Vice-chair of the
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Group and the treasurer for the Opera Group. Whilst in Parliament, Taylor was Chair of the Adoption and Fostering Group, Secretary for the Cardiac Risk in the Young Group and Vice-chair of the Children Group.


Controversies


Misuses of stationery

In early November 2008 Taylor was found guilty of misusing
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
stationery for political purposes, with four complaints about her upheld. Of particular note was that this was the second occasion Taylor had committed such offences, having already been forced to repay for misused stationery and postage in April 2007. A House of Commons
Committee on Standards and Privileges The Standards and Privileges Committee is a former committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons that existed from 1995 to 2013. The committee was established in 1995 to replace the earlier Committee of Privileges. It consisted of 10 Members o ...
stated:
"We strongly deprecate the continued misuse by Ms Taylor of House stationery for political purposes...we are surprised that an experienced Member has repeated previous breaches of the rules and has failed to act in accordance with advice given by the House authorities. We particularly regret the fact that Ms Taylor has continued to dispute parts of the Commissioner's findings and we are very disappointed that she has offered no apology. We conclude that Ms Taylor should pay the House authorities the sum of £500 and submit an unequivocal written apology. "
Taylor suggested that the rules were too "confusing" and that she had "tried her best" to stick to them. She complied with the orders of the committee.


Expenses

In 2006, on the subject of not being top of north east MP expenses, Taylor said she was disappointed not to be higher in the list. Referring to her position behind Dr Kumar and Sharon Hodgson, Taylor said: "I want to know what Ashok and Sharon are doing better than me." In 2007, Taylor was the second costliest MP in the North East region (Stockton South), claiming £159,178, and putting her in 24th place in the Westminster league table. In May 2009, Taylor attracted some criticism for her expenses claims, in particular for claiming £18,100 over four years for food – the maximum possible claim. She also claimed £54,329 for mortgage interest payments over four years on her two-bedroomed London apartment, £40 per month for a cleaner to perform housekeeping duties and £310 for tiling a bathroom. She was one of the 98 MPs who voted to keep MPs' expenses secret. She was one of the few MPs to publish their expenses independently, but had blacked out the parts that revealed staffers' personal details.


Voting record

Taylor strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She supports a fully elected House of Lords and bills which favoured a partially elected alternative. She is in favour of nuclear power and the replacement of
Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...
. She is described as a "Labour loyalist".


Personal life

She married David Taylor in July 1970 and they have one daughter. She enjoys classical music, walking and travelling.


References


External links


Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Dari Taylor MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – Dari Taylor MP

BBC Politics page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Dari 1944 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of Durham University Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Israel People from Rhondda Councillors in North East England Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Welsh politicians 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England