David Taylor (Labour politician)

On Boxing Day 2009, whilst walking with his family at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, Taylor suffered a massive heart attack. He was taken by ambulance to Queens Hospital in Burton-on-Trent hospital, but paramedics were unable to save him. The event occurred during his day off while spending time with his family; he had previously announced that he would not run for reelection due to the high workload.

Following the new emergency interim rules announced on 19 May 2009 by the Speaker which say that furniture should no longer be claimed for, David Taylor voluntarily elected to apply those new rules retrospectively in his own case for the life of this Parliament and has since made a refund based on the full funded purchase price of all such items.

At the May 2008 meeting of his Constituency Labour Party, Taylor announced he would not be standing for re-election at the next general election. Taylor died at the end of 2009, before the general election. As an election had to be called within four months, no by-election was held and at the 2010 general election Taylor’s former seat was gained by Andrew Bridgen of the Conservative Party.

Taylor described it as "a real privilege" to win the title of Commons Backbencher of the Year 2007 in the Annual Awards organised by Sky TV and The House Magazine and decided by a ballot of all 646 MPs. His citation described him as "an indefatigable campaigner, constant attender and independent–minded".

Taylor's views were on the left of the Labour Party. He was widely regarded as one of the parliamentary rebels and has rebelled on 7.2% of votes since June 2001.

He first contested his seat in 1992, achieving a 5.9% swing compared to the national 3.6% swing to Labour.

At Leicester Polytechnic, he became a Chartered Public Finance Accountant in 1970. At the Open University, he gained a BA in Maths and Computing in 1974. During this time he wrote the first CASCAID computer program that evolved into the modern-day Kudos and Adult Directions programs. Before being elected as a Member of Parliament, Taylor was an accountant and the computer applications manager for Leicestershire County Council from 1977 to 1997.

Taylor married Pamela Caunt on 13 September 1969 in Loughborough. The couple had four daughters (and one son, deceased), one granddaughter and one grandson.

David Leslie Taylor (22 August 1946 – 26 December 2009) was a British Labour Co-operative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Leicestershire from 1997 until his death in 2009.