Norman Tebbit, the former cabinet minister known as one of Margaret Thatcher’s most loyal supporters, has died aged 94.
The Conservative grandee, who served as employment secretary and Conservative Party chairman in the 1980s, played a key role in Tory politics for a generation.
As employment secretary he took on the trade unions, and as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1987 he helped Mrs Thatcher secure her third general election victory.
He suffered grave injuries in the IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984, which left his wife, Margaret, paralysed from the neck down.
Tributes poured in following the news of his death, with former Tory Cabinet minister Simon Clarke describing him as a “political giant” who was “combative with his opponents, fiercely loyal to his friends, somebody who would never accept Britain in decline”.
Lord Tebbit stepped down as an MP in 1992 and was then given a seat in the House of Lords.
He died peacefully in his home in Bury St Edmunds at 11.15pm on Monday, after having retired from politics three years ago.
Paying tribute to the former Tory Cabinet minister, who campaigned against integration with Europe, Eurosceptic think tank the Bruges Group said: “Today we mourn the loss of a political titan without whom the Thatcher revolution may have looked very different.
“A passionate Eurosceptic, Lord Tebbit also served as President of the Bruges Group, leading our years-long campaign against EU integration.”
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