John Taylor Watkinson (25 January 1941 – 21 September 2004) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister and teacher.He was educated at Bristol Grammar School before reading PPE at Worcester College, Oxford.Watkinson was elected Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire West in the October 1974 general election, but lost the seat in 1979 to the Conservative Paul Marland. Watkinson defected to the Social Democratic Party in the 1980s.