Tory Eurosceptic rebel Teddy Taylor dies at 80
Sir Teddy Taylor, the arch-Eurosceptic former Tory MP who was a thorn in the side of both Edward Heath and John Major, has died aged 80. He quit as a Scottish Office minister in 1971 over Sir Edward’s decision to join the Common Market. Two decades later he was among a band of die-hard Conservative rebels who brought Sir John’s government to the brink of collapse over their opposition to the Maastricht Treaty, which extended European integration. He was the unofficial leader of the nine whipless ‘ rebels’, who had the whip withdrawn in 1994, effectively suspending them from the parliamentary party and plunging the Tories into minority government. The nine remained out of the party for a year. Yesterday fellow Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash, Tory MP for Stone, said: ‘He was absolutely reliable on the issue of British sovereignty, and would never ever waver. He was absolutely as strong as a lion on Europe.’ Sir Teddy first entered the Commons as MP for Glasgow Cathcart in 1964, but lost the marginal seat in 1979. The following year, at a by-election, he was elected MP for Southend East in Essex. He held the seat, which was later renamed, until he retired from Parliament in 2005. Sir Teddy, who had been ill for some months, died in hospital on Wednesday, his wife Sheila said. He is also survived by two sons and a daughter.