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In Pictures: Thatcher ally Tebbit won plaudits as Brighton bomb survivor

Margaret Thatcher with then employment secretary Norman Tebbit at the Conservative Party press conference in London (PA) - (PA Archive)

Lord Tebbit, who has died aged 94, was an uncompromising supporter of Margaret Thatcher during her years in power, in a political career that would change his life in ways he could never have anticipated.

Although his staunch defence of the UK’s first female prime minister did not sit well with some in his early years at the cabinet table, he won universal admiration for his courage in surviving the Brighton bomb IRA assassination attempt on Mrs Thatcher.

His wife, Margaret Tebbit, spent her life in a wheelchair after the attack that killed five people, when Lord Tebbit was seen grimacing in pain in his pyjamas on breakfast TV while being pulled from the rubble by firefighters in the aftermath of the explosion at the Grand Hotel in 1984.

Vanessa, the goat mascot of Upshire, the Epping Forest village, declined to nibble the petition held by Norman Tebbit, MP for Epping, in Westminster (PA) (PA Archive)
The Conservative cabinet of Margaret Thatcher including then employment secretary Norman Tebbit pictured in 1981 (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)

Mr Tebbit, a former airline pilot, was a confirmed supporter of Mrs Thatcher’s project to turn from consensus to what she called “conviction” politics, implementing the policies they believed in rather than trying to keep a consensus with other parties.

In 1981, a year of riots in big cities, he was given a significant appointment as employment secretary with a brief to tackle the trade unions and at the party conference in Blackpool he caused outrage with a speech when he said his father, when unemployed in the 1930s, had not rioted but had got on his bike to look for work.

His speech was portrayed by critics as telling the modern-day unemployed to get on their bikes while other remarks also raised eyebrows, including his “cricket test” suggestion that people from the subcontinent should only be allowed to settle in the UK if they committed to supporting the England cricket team.

His pugnacious style saw him lampooned as a thug by the Spitting Image show while Labour’s Michael Foot once described him as a semi-house trained polecat.

Employment Minister Norman Tebbit speaking in 1981 at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool in remarks including his famous line about how his father ‘got on his bike and looked for work’ when he was unemployed (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)
Norman Tebbit joined by Margaret Thatcher and Cecil Parkinson for his standing ovation after a speech at the Conservative Party Conference (PA) (PA Archive)
Then trade and industry Secretary Norman Tebbit ready to step from the Leyland Roadrunner (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)
Celebrities cheering amid the balloons on stage, after they gathered to declare their support for the Tories at a 3,000 strong Family Rally. From left; Conservative Party Chairman Norman Tebbit, Denis Thatcher, impressionist Janet Brown, comedian Bob Monkhouse, Margaret Thatcher, and comedian Jimmy Tarbuck (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)

Mr Tebbit’s life would change dramatically on October 12 in 1984 in Brighton at another Tory conference in an outrage of a totally different scale.

Although Mrs Thatcher and her cabinet survived the blast, one Tory MP was killed with four other activists. Lord Tebbit was seen being pulled from the wreckage hours after the explosion had devastated the frontage of the seafront hotel, with his banter with a fireman called Fred audible to the TV audience.

Mr Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, and mother of his three children, survived but spent the rest of her days in a wheelchair.

The aftermath of the bomb at Brighton – Norman Tebbit’s rescue from the wreckage was broadcast live on TV (PA) (PA Archive)
PA chief political correspondent Chris Moncrieff gives a press conference in the Royal Sussex Hospital following his interview with Norman Tebbit, who was injured in an explosion the previous week at the Grand Hotel, Brighton (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)
A copy of Norman Tebbit’s letter to the BBC criticising its news coverage of the US raid on Libya (Archive/PA) (PA Archive)
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and party chairman Norman Tebbit wave to the crowds from Conservative Central Office, Smith Square, after being elected to a third term of government following the general election in 1987 (Rebecca Naden/PA) (PA Archive)
Margaret Thatcher applauds Norman Tebbit after his speech at the opening of the annual Tory conference at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in 1985 (PA) (PA Archive)

As well as his employment and trade and industry roles, Mr Tebbit also served as party chairman and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster before a lengthy spell in the House of Lords in which he took on a more Eurosceptic role, opposing the Maastricht Treaty which further integrated the member states, a position shared by his former boss, Mrs Thatcher and the former supporter of the EU committed himself to withdrawal while on the red benches in 2007.

Norman Tebbit holds the Maastricht Treaty up while being watched by John Major at the Conservative Party Conference (Adam Butler/PA) (PA Archive)
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton, East Sussex on the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the building by the IRA (Chris Ison/PA) (PA Archive)
Lord Tebbit speaks during a tribute to Baroness Margaret Thatcher in the House of Lords (PA) (PA Archive)

When he had joined the Lords as Baron Tebbit of Chingford, he chose a polecat for his coat of arms and also enjoyed reminding people of his “cricket test” suggestion when successive governments said immigrants were expected to adhere to “British values”.

Sir Norman Tebbit leaves after the funeral service of Baroness Thatcher (John Stillwell/PA) (PA Archive)
Peer of the Year, Lord Tebbit (right) and Survivor of the Year, Gerald Kaufman at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge (Sean Dempsey/PA) (PA Archive)
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