The Right Honourable
The Lord Kilclooney
PC (NI)
Official portrait, 2019
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
17 July 2001
Life peerage
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Strangford
In office
25 June 1998 – 7 March 2007
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byMichelle McIlveen
Member of Parliament
for Strangford
In office
9 June 1983 – 14 May 2001
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byIris Robinson
Member of the European Parliament
for Northern Ireland
In office
10 June 1979 – 15 June 1989
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byJim Nicholson
Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament
for South Tyrone
In office
25 November 1965 – 30 March 1972
Preceded byWilliam Frederick McCoy
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
John David Taylor

(1937-12-24) 24 December 1937
Armagh, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyCrossbench (2001 - present)
Ulster Unionist Party (Pre 2007)
SpouseMary Todd (d. 2023)
Children6
Alma materQueen's University Belfast

John David Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, PC (NI) (born 24 December 1937) is a Crossbench life peer[1] from Northern Ireland, who has sat in the House of Lords since 2001. He previously served as the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Strangford from 1983 to 2001. He was deputy leader of the UUP from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 1998 to 2007.

Taylor also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Northern Ireland from 1979 to 1989.

Early life

Taylor was born in Armagh in Northern Ireland.[2] He was educated at The Royal School, Armagh, and Queen's University Belfast, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.[3]

Political career

Taylor's political career began as MP for South Tyrone in the Northern Irish House of Commons between 1970 and 1972, and he served in the Government of Northern Ireland as Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs.[4]

On 25 February 1972, he survived an assassination attempt in Armagh by the Official Irish Republican Army.[5] 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 neck and head.[6] 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.[7]

He became a Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland in 1979, remaining an MEP until 1989.[8] On 20 January 1987,[9] Taylor left the European Democrats, with whom the Conservatives sat, to join the European Right group.[10]

He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for North Down.[11] He then became MP for Strangford in 1983, until 2001.[12] He was a member of Castlereagh Borough Council from 1993 to 1997. In February 1989 he joined the anti-communist 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,[13] sitting as a crossbencher. He sat on the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 4 November 2001 until 31 March 2006.[14] 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.[15]

Personal life

Taylor is a member of the Farmers Club in London, and the County Club in Armagh City.

He owns Alpha Newspapers, which operates local newspaper titles in Northern Ireland and the Republic.[16]

He married Mary Todd in 1970, and has six children. His wife died in September 2023.[17]

Controversies

In 1988, Taylor replied to a letter from Gearoid Ó Muilleoir, deputy president of the Student's Union in Queen's University Belfast, relating to grants for students in Northern Ireland. Taylor's letter said, "Since your surname is clearly unpronounceable I have, rightly or wrongly, concluded that you are Irish and not British. I therefore suggest that you, and those whom you represent, apply for any necessary grants to the Dublin Government."[18]

Taylor aroused controversy for comments regarding the 1992 murder of five Catholic men and boys by the Ulster Defence Association: "...and it is pointed out that the murder of Roman Catholics at Sean Graham's on the Ormeau Road encouraged the Catholic community to publicly condemn the IRA and to point out that these innocent Catholics would not have been murdered had the IRA not firstly committed the terrible slaughter of eight Protestants at Teebane."[19]

In September 1993, Taylor described Loyalist paramilitary victims (overwhelmingly Catholic civilians) "generally" as "members of organisations which support the IRA".[20] Earlier that same month he also said the increasing fear amongst Catholics might be helpful because they were beginning to "appreciate" the fear in the Protestant community.[21]

Taylor later repudiated being Irish in a debate in Dublin: "We in Northern Ireland are not Irish. We do not jig at crossroads, speak Gaelic, play GAA etc… It is an insult for Dubliners to refer to us as being Irish."[22]

In 1997, British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a statement on the Irish Famine, in which he said "those governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy. We must not forget such a dreadful event." Taylor said, "I suppose it is a nice gesture by the prime minister but he will find it will not satisfy and there will be yet more demands. The Irish mentality is one of victimhood - they ask for one apology one week and another on a different subject the next."[23]

In 2013, he attended the annual conference of the far-right Traditional Britain Group.[24]

In November 2017, Taylor attracted criticism for describing the then-Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland Leo Varadkar as "the Indian".[25] Taylor withdrew his comment, stating that he had forgotten how to spell the Irish head of government's name, despite spelling it in an earlier tweet.[25] Despite this contrition, in May 2018 Taylor once again referred to Varadkar as a "typical Indian" following Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland.[26] This time Taylor stood by his comment, stating that the Taoiseach had "upset Unionists" with his visit, but reiterated that he was not a racist.[26]

In April 2018, Taylor faced calls to apologise after claiming McGurk's Bar, bombed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1971, was a "drinking hole for IRA sympathisers" who had run a "political campaign to place the blame on the UVF". The UVF attack, which killed 15 people, was one of deadliest incidents in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Taylor, who was a Stormont minister at the time of the bombing, wrongly claimed the massacre was an IRA device that exploded prematurely inside the premises. Pat Irvine, who was aged 14 when her mother Kathleen was killed in the attack, said "I'm actually disgusted with him, that he's so blatant with his hatred and bitterness."[27]

On 9 November 2020, Taylor made a series of statements on Twitter about American Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris, saying, "What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?"[28][29] When challenged, he claimed that he did not know the name of the vice-president elect, by way of explaining his term of reference. He said, "I had never heard of her nor knew her name is Harris. India is quite rightly celebrating that an Indian, who has USA citizenship, has been appointed Vice President elect".[30]

Taylor had previously been labelled an "old racist dinosaur" by Piers Morgan, for comments he had made in 2017 about cricketer Moeen Ali. Taylor had said on Twitter that, "Times have changed! The England team now needs non English people in order to win Test Games". When it was pointed out that Ali was born in Britain, Taylor responded, "Moeen Ali is proud to be British but racially he is not English. There is a difference between being English and being British!!", adding that, "A Chinese born in England is Chinese and not English!".[31]

In July 2021, During the Euro 2021 football competition, Taylor posted remarks on Twitter criticising the Spain national football team for not singing their national anthem at the start of football matches. Commentators responded by pointing out that the Spanish national anthem does not, in fact, have any lyrics.[32]

Arms

Coat of 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
Badge
An Irish Elk's Head caboshed Gules attired Or

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Kilclooney, Baron, (John David Taylor) (born 24 Dec. 1937)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u37125. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  2. ↑ Gordon Gillespie (24 September 2009). The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Scarecrow Press. pp. 243–. ISBN 978-0-8108-7045-1 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Biographies of Prominent People - 'T'". Conflict Archive on the Internet. University of Ulster. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "Biography of John Kilclooney". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the conflict 1972". Conflict Archive on the Internet. University of Ulster. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Fleming, Joanne (1 August 2016). "It's outrageous ex-soldier may be prosecuted over shooting of IRA man who tried to kill me, declares peer". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  7. ↑ Details of assassination attempt, Conflict Archive on the Internet; accessed 24 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Sharrock, David (30 January 2001). "Unionists' John Taylor to stand down as an MP". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "A Chronology of the Conflict – 1987". Conflict Archive on the Internet. University of Ulster. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "John Taylor: Profile". BBC News. 30 January 2001.
  11. ↑ Gordon Gillespie (16 March 2017). Historical Dictionary of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 290–. ISBN 978-1-4422-6305-5 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ "Northern Ireland Elections". ARK. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "No. 56281". The London Gazette. 20 July 2001. p. 8601.
  14. ↑ "Previous Policing Board Members". NI Policing Board. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "Partition could come north of Border". The Scotsman. JPI Media. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  16. ↑ Neill, Maurice (4 December 2003). "Taylor buys up four newspapers in Republic". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  17. ↑ "Mary Taylor: Businesswoman and wife of Lord Kilclooney was 'lady by name, fiercely family by nature'". The Irish News. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "Queen's student union archives shine light on the past – BBC.co.uk". BBC News. 15 September 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  19. ↑ Sunday Tribune, 12 December 1993
  20. ↑ Fortnight Magazine, Issue 322, p. 32-33. Fortnight Publications, 1993.
  21. ↑ Fortnight Magazine, Issue 321, p. 32-33. Fortnight Publications, 1993.
  22. ↑ Conor O'Clery, Ireland in Quotes: A History of the 20th Century (Dublin: The O'Brien Press, 1999), p. 219
  23. ↑ Harnden, Toby (2 June 1997). "Apology on Potato Famine". The Edmonton Journal. Edmonton.
  24. ↑ "Traditional Britain Dinner with Jacob Rees-Mogg MP | Traditional Britain Group".
  25. 1 2 "Lord Kilclooney withdraws 'Indian' Leo Varadkar tweet". BBC News. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  26. 1 2 "I thought Lord Kilclooney 'typical Indian' tweet was parody – Leo Varadkar". Belfast Telegraph. Independent News & Media. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  27. ↑ "Outrage as Lord Kilclooney says McGurk's bar was 'drinking hole for IRA sympathisers'". The Irish News. The Irish News Ltd. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  28. ↑ "Lord Kilclooney accused of racism over tweet about Kamala Harris". Powys County Times. Press Association. 9 November 2020.
  29. ↑ Sleigh, Sophia (9 November 2020). "Lord Kilclooney denies being racist after calling Kamala Harris 'the Indian'". Evening Standard. ESI Media. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  30. ↑ Kilcooney, John (9 November 2020). "I had never heard of her nor knew her name is Harris. India is quite rightly celebrating that an Indian, who has USA citizenship, has been appointed Vice President elect". @KilclooneyJohn. Retrieved 9 November 2020 – via Twitter.
  31. ↑ Bell, Jonathan (1 January 2018). "Piers Morgan calls Kilclooney an 'old racist dinosaur' after tweet about cricketer Moeen Ali". Belfast Telegraph. Independent News & Media.
  32. ↑ McGoran, Peter (7 July 2021). "NI peer mocked for criticising Spanish players for not singing national anthem". BelfastLive. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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