He attended Blakey Moor elementary school, but left at the age of fourteen to work as a shop assistant in the local co-op.

For his services to local government, he was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1974 Queen's Birthday Honours.

[6] One of Taylor's successes as a councillor was the setting up of special centres to help recent immigrants who had arrived in the town to work in the textile industry.

The aim was to ensure an ethnic mix in local schools to promote social integration and help the children learn English.

[8] He was not a particular friend of Barbara Castle, the local MP who was so close to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and was delighted to influence the succession of Jack Straw to the seat on her retirement.

In 1972, Taylor was embroiled in a row to dismiss a communist English lecturer, Dr. David Craig, at the new Lancaster University of which he was a co-founder and deputy Pro-Chancellor.

He carried forward the tripartite industrial strategies of Labour's super-ministries into the new Wilsonian era, when the Education Secretary Reg Prentice asked him to report on school management.

[11] By 30 January 2009, he was an adviser to NPL Estates, Alcatel-Lucent, Canatxx Energy Ventures Ltd, BT plc, Gersphere UK and T-Systems; and a non-executive director only of A Division Holdings [12] He was president or patron of various organizations and held an Hon.

Labour was in opposition in 1983, and Taylor was alleged to have been a likely appointment to the front bench, but his wife committed him to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983, due to a problem with alcohol.

[15] A few days later on 20 May 2009, the House of Lords considered the report of its Privileges Committee[16] and voted to suspend Taylor and Peter Truscott for six months, the first such action since the 17th century.

[citation needed] Over the 2014-15 parliamentary session, Taylor claimed £43,110 in expenses, including £29,100 in tax-free attendance allowances, during which he did not speak in the House of Lords.

[19] On 17 November 2016, Taylor was involved in an accident when his mobility scooter collided with a van on the corner of Millbank and Great College Street, near the House of Lords.