Norman Tebbit death: Margaret Thatcher's right-hand man who survived Brighton bombing dies aged 94

The former cabinet minister Norman Tebbit has died at the age of 94, it has been announced.

Lord Tebbit was a key member of Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s and survived the IRA bomb attack in Brighton.

The peer died “peacefully at home” on Monday, his son William said.

Born in Ponders End, London in 1931, he worked as an airline pilot before becoming a politician.

He was first elected as a Conservative MP in 1970 and rose up the ranks of the party, gaining a reputation for toughness.

Lord Tebbit famously told a party conference that when his father was unemployed, “he got on his bike and looked for work.”

Paraphrased to “on yer bike” by his opponents, the comment was seen by some as typical of the indifference of the Conservatives to joblessness at the time.

Once memorably described by Labour's Michael Foot as a "semi-house-trained polecat", Mr Tebbit revelled in his reputation as a political bruiser as the government drove through its controversial programme of free market reforms.

His puppet on the satirical TV show Spitting Image was a leather jacket-clad hardman - an image Lord Tebbit enjoyed because "he was always a winner".

In 1984, he survived the IRA’s attempted assassination of Mrs Thatcher when the group bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

He was trapped for hours under rubble and suffered serious injuries before being rescued. The attack also left his wife, Margaret, paralysed. Mrs Tebbit died in 2020 aged 86.

In cabinet, he served as Secretary for Employment, Secretary for Trade and Industry, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative Party Chairman.

As Employment Secretary, he was key in diluting the power of the trade union “closed shop” and weakened unions’ immunity from civil damages.

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