David Taylor was a supremely resourceful backbencher, a polymath and a unique parliamentary craftsman whose sudden death on Boxing Day 2009 shocked and saddened all of Westminster. In this biography, written with the cooperation of David's family, his former colleague Paul Flynn paints a picture of a man of considerable integrity who, whilst loyal to the core values of the Labour Party, eschewed ambition or ministerial office, avoided self-aggrandisement and empty publicity, and dedicated himself to helping push through necessary reform with audacious good humour and penetrating parliamentary debate.