Consultant who became an independent MP in a bid to restore the accident and emergency department at his local Kidderminster Hospital and served for nine years
A very nice piece. I grew up in Kidderminster, so I remember his election very well. For various reasons, my family were quite happy with the closure of the A&E at Kidderminster (the hospital was woefully ill-equipped and in the case of a dire emergency, one would have been better off dashing straight to Worcester), but he was an excellent MP and clearly a very decent and sincere man. Friends of ours who knew him professionally held him in the highest regard. David Locke was a generic New Labour cardboard cut-out, and Mark Garnier has disappointed most local Conservatives - Dr Taylor was a real a breath of fresh air during that era.
Harry Taylor (no relation, I assume) who was a couple of years below me at a school in a neighbouring village wrote this piece in The Critic on the 20th anniversary of his first election; https://thecritic.co.uk/taking-on-new-labour/
This is a lovely tribute to an impressive man. But I have to admit that in spite of a reasonable familiarity with Latin I initially read the headline and thought, "I didn't realise his surname was Vale." As in, "The name's Vale, Richard Taylor Vale"
A very nice piece. I grew up in Kidderminster, so I remember his election very well. For various reasons, my family were quite happy with the closure of the A&E at Kidderminster (the hospital was woefully ill-equipped and in the case of a dire emergency, one would have been better off dashing straight to Worcester), but he was an excellent MP and clearly a very decent and sincere man. Friends of ours who knew him professionally held him in the highest regard. David Locke was a generic New Labour cardboard cut-out, and Mark Garnier has disappointed most local Conservatives - Dr Taylor was a real a breath of fresh air during that era.
Harry Taylor (no relation, I assume) who was a couple of years below me at a school in a neighbouring village wrote this piece in The Critic on the 20th anniversary of his first election; https://thecritic.co.uk/taking-on-new-labour/
This is a lovely tribute to an impressive man. But I have to admit that in spite of a reasonable familiarity with Latin I initially read the headline and thought, "I didn't realise his surname was Vale." As in, "The name's Vale, Richard Taylor Vale"