71 Facts About Norman Tebbit

Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit was born on 29 March 1931 and is a British politician.

Norman Tebbit was a Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1992, representing the constituencies of Epping and Chingford.

In 1984, Tebbit was injured in the Provisional Irish Republican Army's bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where he was staying during the Conservative Party Conference.

Norman Tebbit left the cabinet after the 1987 general election to care for his wife.

Norman Tebbit considered standing for the Conservative leadership following Margaret Thatcher's resignation in 1990, but came to the decision not to stand as he had earlier made a commitment to his wife to retire from front-line politics.

Norman Tebbit did not stand for re-election as MP for Chingford in 1992, and was given a life peerage to sit in the House of Lords as Baron Tebbit, of Chingford.

Norman Tebbit retired from the House on 31 March 2022.

At the age of 16, Norman Tebbit got a job with the Financial Times and had to join NATSOPA.

In November 1950, Norman Tebbit was commissioned into the Royal Air Force for national service in the rank of pilot officer.

Norman Tebbit was promoted to flying officer in April 1952.

On leaving the RAF, Norman Tebbit joined BOAC in 1953 as a navigator and pilot, while initially continuing to fly in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force with 604 Squadron at North Weald in Essex.

Norman Tebbit flew Avro Yorks, Argonauts, Britannias, DC7Cs and the Boeing 707.

Norman Tebbit was elected as MP for Epping in 1970 and then for Chingford in February 1974.

Norman Tebbit is recorded as an MP member of the Conservative Monday Club in 1970.

Norman Tebbit accused Foot of "pure undiluted fascism" and affirmed that this "left Mr Foot exposed as a bitter opponent of freedom and liberty".

Mr Norman Tebbit is therefore using fascism in a legitimate descriptive sense when he accuses Mr Foot of it.

Norman Tebbit involved himself in that dispute by making a controversial speech on 12 September 1977, in which he said:.

Norman Tebbit was accused of comparing Prior to Laval and at that year's Conservative Party conference, he attempted to avoid personalising the issue, and openly splitting the party, without retracting what he had said.

Later, in the debate Norman Tebbit asked Foot whether he would "put a bridle on his foul-mouthed tongue".

In March 2021 Norman Tebbit was reported by The Times to have said, during a Zoom meeting, that Special Branch had regularly spied on union leaders while he was employment secretary.

Norman Tebbit got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it.

The Nuffield study of the 1983 general election found that Norman Tebbit was the second most prominent Conservative on radio and television news broadcasts during the campaign with 81 appearances.

Thatcher had actually wanted Norman Tebbit to become Home Secretary, but William Whitelaw vetoed this.

Norman Tebbit was injured in the IRA's bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the 1984 Conservative Party conference.

In 1985, Norman Tebbit was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as Thatcher wanted to keep him in the Cabinet.

In 1986, Norman Tebbit opposed the American bombing raid on Libya from British bases and objected to Thatcher's refusal to consult the Cabinet fully on the matter.

For quite a while, Norman Tebbit was seen as Thatcher's natural successor as Party leader.

Norman Tebbit feared that if no action was taken against The Guardian the Labour Party would use this quote against the Conservatives in the forthcoming general election.

Norman Tebbit had already informed Thatcher at the beginning of the campaign that he would leave the government after the election to care for his wife.

On 31 July 1987, Norman Tebbit was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour.

Norman Tebbit became a director of the company on 3 November 1987; this gave him an additional salary plus shares in the company.

In late 1987 and 1988, Norman Tebbit formed a temporary alliance with Michael Heseltine in campaigning for the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority, which they succeeded in achieving through a backbench amendment.

Norman Tebbit was prominent in an unsuccessful Conservative backbench rebellion against a Bill to give 50,000 households from Hong Kong British citizenship.

Norman Tebbit said that, although black critics attacked apartheid in South Africa, they did not speak out against violence among black tribes in South Africa.

Norman Tebbit told Woodrow Wyatt in 1991 that he did not think certain immigrant communities would assimilate "because some of them insist on sticking to their own culture, like the Muslims in Bradford and so forth, and they are extremely dangerous".

Norman Tebbit claimed the government had been on the defensive against "federalist follies" and that Maastricht had seen "a series of bridgeheads into our constitution, into the powers of this House, and into the lives of individuals and businesses".

Norman Tebbit decided not to stand in the 1992 election, to devote more time to caring for his disabled wife.

Norman Tebbit famously said: "If you think I'm right-wing, you should meet this guy".

At the October 1992 Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, Norman Tebbit embarrassed John Major's government when he made a speech attacking the Treaty.

Norman Tebbit received a tumultuous standing ovation and walked into the centre of the conference hall waving amongst the cheers.

The talk of the town is Norman Tebbit's vulgar grand-standing barn-storming performance on Europe.

Norman Tebbit savaged Maastricht, poured scorn on monetary union, patronised the PM.

Norman Tebbit stood there, arms aloft, acknowledging the ovation, Norman the conqueror.

In March 2007, Norman Tebbit became patron of the cross-party Better Off Out campaign, which advocated British withdrawal from the EU.

Norman Tebbit privately said of John Major on 17 November 1994: "He has the mulishness of a weak man with stupidity".

In 1995, Norman Tebbit publicly backed John Redwood's bid for the Conservative Party leadership, praising his "brains, courage and humour".

Norman Tebbit named Mark MacGregor, a former leader of the Federation of Conservative Students which Tebbit disbanded for "loony Right libertarian politics", as one of them.

Norman Tebbit said that The Movement consisted of a "loose" grouping of thirteen members who had previously supported Kenneth Clarke and Michael Portillo for Party leader.

In February 2003, Norman Tebbit gave a speech to an audience of the Chartered Institute of Journalists at London's Reform Club in Pall Mall, urging journalists to reject political correctness in favour of "open, honest and vigorous debate".

Norman Tebbit blamed "timid" politicians, including members of his own party, for allowing PC language and ideas to take hold in Britain by default.

Norman Tebbit backed David Davis for Party leader during the 2005 Conservative leadership election.

Norman Tebbit has spent much of his time in the Conservative Party and as a public relations guy.

In February 2008, after a magazine article written by shadow education secretary Michael Gove, Norman Tebbit publicly criticised what he characterised as "the poisonous tree of Blairism", which he said had been "planted" in the Conservative Party front bench.

Norman Tebbit is the vice-president of the Conservative Way Forward group.

Norman Tebbit continued his criticism of the Conservative Party's move to a more "centre-right" position by stating that their abandonment of the traditional right vote has created a political vacuum, contributing to the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party, including two MP defections, both from the Conservatives.

Norman Tebbit retired from the House of Lords on 31 March 2022, under provision in the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.

Later Lord Norman Tebbit defended his statement that most money went "into the pockets" of politicians "to buy guns for warlords".

Norman Tebbit speculated that it could mean that a lesbian queen could give birth to a future monarch by artificial insemination, and that the legislation might allow him to marry his own son to escape inheritance tax.

In 2018, Norman Tebbit said that he would not attend services at St Edmundsbury Cathedral conducted by new dean Joe Hawes, because of Hawes' civil partnership with another clergyman.

Norman Tebbit said he was against throwing the Constabulary's name and badge "into the modernisation trash can" and that the RUC had been "the thin green line standing between bloody anarchy and the rule of law".

In 2017, Lord Norman Tebbit criticised a Lords amendment to the Brexit bill which would guarantee the rights of EU citizens to live and work within the UK after Brexit.

Norman Tebbit's comments produced "loud gasps" from the majority of peers, adding that "Of course we don't have the power to look after our citizens overseas, not in these days when we don't have many gunboats".

In December 2013, Norman Tebbit suffered from a cardiac incident, praising the NHS for their quick and decisive action.

Norman Tebbit was portrayed as a sinister, leather-clad bovverboy beating up fellow cabinet members and keeping order in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, by the satirical TV puppet show, Spitting Image.

On 23 February 2010, Norman Tebbit was alleged to have attacked a ceremonial Chinese dragon during a Chinese New Year parade in Bury St Edmunds.

Norman Tebbit is said to have been unaware it was Chinese New Year and to have "kicked the rear of a child who was dressed in the traditional costume of a dragon".

In May 2009, Norman Tebbit urged voters to snub the main three political parties in the upcoming EU Parliament election.

Norman Tebbit said that there were a series of smaller parties people could vote for in addition to UKIP, including the Green Party, but he urged against voting for the British National Party.

In July 2013, Norman Tebbit was one of the guests on an episode of Peter Hennessy's BBC Radio 4 programme Reflections in which he talked about his life and career.

In 2016, Norman Tebbit contributed an interview to the documentary film Bobby Sands: 66 Days.

Norman Tebbit has written for The Guardian and New Statesman in the past.