Norman Tebbit
By Sir John Redwood on July 8, 2025
This is an article I was asked to write for City am
Norman Tebbit was a towering figure in the Thatcher Cabinet. I worked closely with him as Margaret's Chief Policy Adviser in the middle years of her government. He was often the Cabinet Minister around the Cabinet committee tables who went straight to the heart of the matter under discussion. He sometimes had the sharp turn of phrase to encapsulate the main point or difficulty so well.
He was a loyal supporter of the Prime Minister, sharing an outlook on life with her. He communicated often and well with the wider world and was a fierce exponent of the government's message. Like Margaret, he had a mission to improve the UK. He spoke the truth as he saw it, and stuck to a strategy designed to bring it about. People knew where they were with Norman, and understood what he thought was right.
Norman came from a less privileged background than the public school men in the Cabinet. A former airline pilot and trade Union member of BALPA he had decided to break closed shops which could harm members . Margaret Thatcher made him Employment Secretary and he put through the 1982 legislation. The main aim of the Conservative reforms embedded in several pieces of new law was to give more voice and vote to Trade Union members. Every strike would need a ballot of approval, to avoid Trade Union bosses calling a strike which the members did not want. Closed shops had to be supported by the majority.
When the Coal Board got into dispute with the Miners, it was Norman who pointed out the key issue for the Board was to move coal rather than to mine more. Stockpiles were high and the dispute revolved around attempts to prevent lorries collecting the coal that had already been mined. Norman took a tough line, reinforcing the view that this was a commercial dispute between Board and miners where government should not intervene to find a negotiated settlement.
My first serious exchange with him came at one of the early Cabinet Committee meetings where I briefed the Prime Minister. Not knowing her well enough at that point, I prepared a hard hitting private paper for her on the many failings of the management of British Leyland, why the car industry under public ownership was loss making and declining, and how we needed a major change of policy. I attended the meeting to see how the brief was used, only to be shocked that she read out large chunks of it with obvious pleasure. All the room knew who must have written it, as civil service papers did not usually sound like that. Norman was livid, as he took the whole thing as a personal attack as his Industry department was responsible for the policy. I spent time afterwards trying to reassure him I did not intend it as an attack on him, and would be happy to work with him on a policy that could salvage more of our car industry which had been in freefall since the 1970s. I learned to tone down my messages to Margaret as clearly they were getting through.
Norman's success as a Cabinet Minister at Employment then Industry was overwhelmed by the Brighton bomb. He himself was badly injured, but recovered. His wife was permanently disabled, changing their lives for ever. It meant he gave up a Cabinet post in 1987 and retired from the Commons in 1992.
When Margaret resigned I went with some other friendly MPs to his room and asked him to run for the Leadership of the Conservative party. He was to me and others the natural heir to take over. He told us he could not do that, given the need to look after his wife. It was a sad moment to accept the reality that his life had been changed fundamentally by the terrorist act. It was typical of Norman that he put loyalty and love to his wife before other considerations.
Our country owes Norman and his family a debt of gratitude for the service he gave, and for shouldering the burden of injury and disability in his home life as a result of their public lives .
Norman Tebbit, the former Conservative cabinet minister and one of Margaret Thatcher’s most loyal supporters, has died at the age of 94.
Tebbit represented the constituencies of Epping and Chingford as an MP for 22 years before receiving a life peerage, making him Lord Tebbit of Chingford. He retired from the House of Lords in 2022.
During his long political career he served as employment secretary, trade and industry secretary, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and chair of the Conservative party.
His death was confirmed by his son, William, who said in a statement: “At 11.15pm on 7 July 2025 Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94. His family ask that their privacy is respected at this time and a further statement regarding funeral arrangements will be made in due course.”
“A man of great conviction, profound self-belief and with a direct and sometimes abrasive tone, he generated strong reactions from all sides,” Cameron said.
He was an icon. ITN Badenoch pays tribute to Tory ‘icon’ Norman Tebbit “I was sometimes on the hard end of that, but there is no doubting the tremendous impact he had on our country and my party. A staunch believer in self-reliance, hard work and enterprise, as secretary of state for employment he reformed our outdated and ineffective trade union laws, and thus transformed industrial relations in Britain for good.
“But for all his caustic tongue and sharp wit, he was also privately a kind and thoughtful man. The way he stepped aside from public life to care so tenderly and devotedly for his beloved wife, Margaret, after the Brighton bomb speaks to his compassion and the importance he placed on family, above all.”
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Tebbit “was an icon in British politics and his death will cause sadness across the political spectrum”.
Downing Street said Keir Starmer’s thoughts were with Tebbit’s family and paid tribute to the “great strength he showed” in the face of the Brighton bombing. “He will be missed by many,” a Number 10 spokesman said.
As employment secretary, Tebbit took on the trade unions, and as chair of the Conservative party from 1985 to 1987 he helped Thatcher secure her third general election victory.
He sustained serious injuries in the 1984 Brighton bombing, which left his wife, Margaret, paralysed from the neck down.
Badenoch said: “He was one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism and his unstinting service in the pursuit of improving our country should be held up as an inspiration to all Conservatives. As a minister in Mrs Thatcher’s administration, he was one of the main agents of the transformation of our country, notably in taming the trade unions.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife, Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing – a reminder that he was first and foremost a family man who always held true to his principles. He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised.”
Tebbit was a prominent figure in the Thatcher era with a reputation as a political bruiser unafraid of confrontation as he helped drive forward the economic and social changes that characterised the 1980s.
After inner-city riots in Handsworth, Birmingham, and Brixton, south London, in 1981, he made comments that led to him being called “On yer bike” by critics who felt he was a symbol of Conservative indifference to rising unemployment.
Rejecting suggestions that street violence was a natural response to rising unemployment, he retorted: “I grew up in the 30s with an unemployed father. He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it.”
In 1990, in response to concerns over integration of migrants, he set out the “cricket test”, suggesting the side British Asians supported in internationals should be seen as an indicator of whether they were loyal to the UK, leading to accusations of racism.
He was memorably described by Labour’s Michael Foot as a “semi-housetrained polecat”, and was also nicknamed the “Chingford skinhead” in reference to his east London constituency, while his puppet on the satirical TV show Spitting Image was a leather jacket-clad hardman – an image Tebbit enjoyed because “he was always a winner”.
The former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said: “Rest in eternal peace, great man. Norman Tebbit was a giant of Conservative politics and Conservative ideals. A man who looked after his beloved wife beautifully after the horrific terror attack by the IRA. A man who nurtured and befriended young conservatives like me.”
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said on X: “Norman gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP and was a great man. RIP.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/norman-tebbit-former-tory-cabinet-minister-dies-at-94/
Ed. Were Irish terrorists assisted by the CIA at Brighton with a sophisticated device? Many English national heroes wanting to escape the EU were lost to supposed Irish terrorist attacks. Airey Neave. ?Lord Mountbatten. Others suffered political/reputational assassination - IDS, Thatcher and Tebbit, but somehow he survived it all. He spoke directly to ordinary people in a language they could relate to, a truly great man, on whose work we all benefited for decades on end, enjoying a growth economy and an end to the hopelessness of the WW2 post war era. Since then the Conservatives under Cameron sold us out. Reform is looking little better, with Farage building a truly weak party with any strong personalities dismissed, with a strong suspicion that Farage is controlled opposition. The Teds offer real active opposition to the destruction of the English nation, yet the media won't carry our bulletins as they know people would switch our way if they knew what we offer.