Norman Tebbit dies aged 94 as tributes pour in for Tory veteran who defied IRA

His son William said: "At 11.15pm on July 7, 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."

Tebbit was targeted in the IRA's vicious 1984 Brighton bombing, which left his wife Margaret paralysed for the rest of her life.

The Tory grandee survived Margaret by five years following her death in 2020.

His death has prompted emotional tributes from across British politics.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said he "was an icon in British politics and his death will cause sadness across the political spectrum".

Her lengthy statement in tribute reads: "Our Conservative family mourns the loss of Lord Tebbit today, and I send my sincerest condolences to his loved ones.

"Norman Tebbit was an icon in British politics and his death will cause sadness across the political spectrum. 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 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.

"Our nation has lost one of its very best today, and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit's enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country. May he rest in peace."

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Her predecessor-but-two at the helm of the party, Boris Johnson, said Tebbit "was a hero of modern Conservatism".

"In the early 1980s, he liberated the British workforce from the socialist tyranny of the closed shop. He tamed the union bosses, and in so doing he helped pave the way for this country's revival in the 1980s and 1990s," Johnson continued.

"At a time when the Labour Government is now disastrously reversing those crucial reforms, we need to remember what he did and why.

"In his single most famous phrase he once said that in the 1930s his unemployed father had got on his bike and looked for work.

"That wasn't a heartless thing to say - as the Labour Party claimed.

"It was because he believed in thrift and energy and self-reliance. It was because he rejected a culture of easy entitlement.

"We mourn the passing of a great patriot, a great Conservative - and today more than ever we need to restore the values of Norman Tebbit to our politics."

One of the first to speak out was Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart, who hailed him as a "titan" as the news broke this morning.

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith, meanwhile, said he was "sad to learn of the death of Lord Tebbit", and labelled him "a great Conservative whose values Britain could use a great deal more of today".

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."

Reform UK leader and, like Tebbit, a hardline Eurosceptic, Nigel Farage said: "Norman gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP and was a great man. RIP."

The Tory heavyweight was born in 1931 to a working-class family in Ponders End, Middlesex, before pursuing a career as an airline pilot.

Having carried out national service for the RAF, where he flew Meteor and Vampire jets, he went on to join the old British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

Tebbit was first elected as a Conservative MP for Epping in 1970, and four years later for Chingford - areas which went on to symbolise the grassroots Tory support which propelled Thatcher to No10.

He served as a vicious firebrand against the unions and Labour, and once accused Michael Foot of fascism.

Tebbit famously joked, however: "I've never bashed a union in my life."

Upon the Tories' 1979 General Election triumph, Tebbit was handed a ministerial post for the old Department of Trade, and two years later, was anointed Employment Secretary.

Some years later, he suggested that immigrants who support their native countries rather than England during the cricket were not significantly integrated into the United Kingdom - in what came to be known as the "Tebbit test".

In 1984, he was caught up in the IRA's bombing of Brighton's Grand Hotel, which killed five people in the terrorist group's attempt to assassinate Thatcher and her Cabinet.

Norman and Margaret Tebbit were asleep on the second floor, and the blast sent their bed tumbling two storeys down into the Grand Hotel's foyer.

He was seen on television as firefighters scrambled to rescue survivors from the rubble, and went on to sustain a broken collarbone and broken ribs.

Margaret's paralysis eventually meant the Tory minister left his cabinet post to care for her, and stepped down as an MP in 1992, handing his seat to future Tory chief Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

This morning, IDS said: "I am deeply saddened to hear that Norman Tebbit has died.

"My predecessor in Chingford, my mentor and friend, Norman epitomised all that became to be known as Thatcherism and was critical to the success of the Thatcher Government in the 1980s."

"He was tough but compassionate, and we will all miss him greatly. A true servant of this country," he added.

That year, he was handed a life peerage and sat in the Lords until 2022.