
Funeral to be held for ‘icon in British politics' Norman Tebbit
His life will be remembered during a service at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds on Thursday.
Lord Tebbit was injured in an IRA bombing during the Conservative Party conference in Brighton in 1984, which left his wife, Margaret, paralysed from the neck down.
He served as employment secretary, taking 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 also served as trade secretary and had a reputation as a political bruiser.
After the 1987 election success he left his post as Tory chairman to help care for Margaret, who died in 2020.
He left the Commons in 1992 and became a member of the House of Lords.
His son William said his father died 'peacefully at home'.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith is due to give a reading at Thursday's funeral service, with the eulogy to be delivered by Tory peer and author Lord Michael Dobbs.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Lord Tebbit was an 'icon in British politics', adding that his death would cause 'sadness across the political spectrum'.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson described him as 'a hero of modern Conservatism' and 'great patriot' whose values were needed 'today more than ever'.
Lord Tebbit's family have asked that any donations go to St Nicholas Hospice and the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity.

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Times
an hour ago
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Families criticise Starmer and say hostages ‘will rot in Hamas dungeons'
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They said the families had 'held out some hope that the policy could not be as they feared and that since the UK had chosen to impose conditions on recognition, those conditions would also be on Hamas, as otherwise they would essentially be rewarded for continuing to commit war crimes, including hostage taking and encouraged to continue that path'. But that 'it was clear from the meeting last night that the British government's policy will not help the hostages, and could even hurt them'. Wagner and Rose claimed the release or otherwise of hostages would 'play no part' in the decision ministers will make in September and added: 'In other words, the 'vision for peace', which the UK is pursuing and which the families heard much about last night, may well involve our clients' family members continuing to rot in Hamas dungeons, just as British and British-linked hostages Emily Damari and Eli Sharabi did before them.' Starmer said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allowed more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months. While he also called for Hamas to immediately release all remaining Israeli hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and 'accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza', he did not explicitly say these conditions would factor into a decision on whether recognition would go ahead. The US accused Starmer, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, and President Macron of France of being 'clumsy' by saying they would recognise a Palestinian state before all hostages were released. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said recognition of Palestine as a state was 'irrelevant' and told Fox News Radio: 'The UK is like, well, 'if Israel doesn't agree to a ceasefire by September, we're going to recognize a Palestinian state. 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Asked if hostages being released would be a condition of that, she told Times Radio: 'Neither side has a veto on what the British government choose to do in September. And that will be an assessment that will be taking place in September. 'The prime minister has set out what he expects from Israel. Obviously, that's a democratically elected government, very different to Hamas, which is a terrorist organisation.' She said: 'We need to actually have the ceasefire, and then move on to trying to re-establish that peace process and the establishment of what my party and I think generally is accepted, a two-state solution.'


Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
British families of Hamas hostages blast Keir Starmer's plan to recognise Palestinian state that they claim will leave loved ones 'rotting in dungeons'
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The Independent
3 hours ago
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