Matthew Taylor MP
Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth
Incumbent
Assumed office  12 March 1987
Preceded by	David Penhaligon
Majority	24,089 (14.4%)
Born	3 January 1963 (1963-01-03) (age 46)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrats

Matthew Owen John Taylor (born 3 January 1963) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Truro and St Austell in Cornwall.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Education 3 Life and career 4 Member of Parliament 4.1 Announced Retirement 5 Personal life 6 References 7 External links 7.1 News items

[edit] Early life

Matthew Taylor is the adopted son of Kenneth Taylor, a television script writer best known for "The Jewel in the Crown" and "The Camomile Lawn".

He has now contacted his birth mother and found that his great-grandfather was Liberal MP Sir Percy Harris.^[1]

[edit] Education

Taylor was educated at two independent schools: at Treliske Preparatory School (now known as Truro School Prep^[2]) on Highertown (A390) in Truro, and University College School in Hampstead (a suburb of London), followed by Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford.

[edit] Life and career

Politically active from a young age, Taylor was involved in his first election in 1979 at the age of 16, and joined the Cornwall anti-nuclear alliance aged 17. After winning a scholarship, he studied PPE at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where he was elected as President of the Students' Union from 1985-6 as part of a broad left coalition.

[edit] Member of Parliament

In 1986 he was assigned to the then Truro MP David Penhaligon as an economics researcher, but after Penhaligon died in a car crash on his way to St Austell Post Office just before Christmas 1986, Taylor was selected to run as the Liberal candidate in the following by-election, which he won. A few months later he retained the seat at the 1987 general election. Aged 24 he was the youngest MP and took the title "Baby of the House" from Charles Kennedy, holding the title for 10 years. His celebrity status gave him early access to political media and television programmes including the BBC's "Question Time", while being an MP in a small party brought quick promotion to the front bench as local government spokesman. Taylor has a permanent constituency office in St Austell, and has an annual travelling surgery when he tows a bright black and yellow caravan around the area.

Taylor has had a successful track record in backing leaders of his party, including Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy, whose successful leadership campaign Taylor led in 1999 after Ashdown stepped down. His reward was to be made the party's Treasury spokesman, in which role he attacked Labour over its decision to shed a penny from the basic rate of income tax and announced the policy of raising the upper rate to 50% for people earning over £100,000. He has also been the party's spokesperson on environmental issues.

[edit] Announced Retirement

In early 2007 he announced that he would not be standing again at the next UK general election.^[3] Also with effect from the next UK general election, the parliamentary constituencies in the county of Cornwall are being reorganised.

[edit] Personal life

Taylor married Vicky Garner (born 1973), a former director of pressure group Surfers Against Sewage, in 2007. The couple have two sons; Arthur Simon Rowan Taylor, born on 18 November 2006 at St Thomas' Hospital, London^[4] and Jacob Oscar Heywood Taylor born on 12th February 2008 at home in Cornwall. They presently reside between Taylor's constituency cottage in the Clay District near St Dennis, and a flat in London. Taylor has a self-restored British Racing Green 1967 MG MGB car which he enjoys driving around the Cornish countryside. Each August he reverts to student days with a rucksack and a plane ticket to somewhere different - so far including Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, all on a minimal budget.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Matthew Taylor MP official site
• Matthew Taylor MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• ePolitix.com - Matthew Taylor
• Guardian Politics - Ask Aristotle: Matthew Taylor MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Matthew Taylor MP
• The Public Whip - Matthew Taylor voting record
• BBC News - Matthew Taylor profile 16 March 2006

[edit] News items

• February 2007 Guardian article
• Son born November 2006

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by David Penhaligon	Member of Parliament for Truro 1987 – 1997	Constituency renamed
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Truro & St Austell 1997 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Charles Kennedy	Baby of the House 1987 – 1997	Succeeded by Christopher Leslie
Party political offices
Preceded by Mark Oaten	Chair of the Liberal Democrats 2003 – 2005	Succeeded by Paul Holmes