Norman Tebbit: Outspoken hero of the Conservative political right

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Norman Tebbit, who has died at the age of 94, was at the heart of Margaret Thatcher's political revolution. He was a man whose philosophy of self-reliance formed the core of his political beliefs. An able and conscientious politician, his plain speaking on immigration and Europe endeared him to the Tory faithful, and he was once spoken of as a possible party leader. And while Lord Tebbit's uncompromising views often enraged his political opponents, he was unmoved by the less-than-flattering names they bestowed upon him.

Getty Images Norman Tebbit was at the heart of Margaret Thatcher's political revolution in the 1980s.

Norman Beresford Tebbit was born on 29 March 1931 in the working-class suburb of Ponders End in north London. His father, a manager in a jewellery and pawnbroker's business, had progressed sufficiently in life to be buying his own house. However, prosperity was not to last. The manager's job disappeared in the economic depression, and the family moved to what became a series of short-term lets in Edmonton. Tebbit's father found employment as a painter, although not before he had travelled the streets looking for work on a bicycle that was later became to become famous.

Norman Tebbitt Norman and Margaret Tebbit on their wedding day in 1956

By the time the young Norman arrived at Edmonton County Grammar School, he had already developed his interest in Conservative politics. "I felt you should be able to make your own fortune," he said. "You should be master of your own fate." Leaving school at 16, he joined the Financial Times where, much to his annoyance, the operation of the closed shop forced him to join the print union, Natsopa. After two years, he went to do his National Service with the RAF where he gained a commission as a Pilot Officer. However, he decided that his political ambitions were not compatible with a service career so he left to sell advertising with a company run by a family friend.

PA Media As a pilots' union activist he was a thorn in the side of BOAC management

He had not lost his love of flying and he signed up with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force as a part-time pilot. He narrowly escaped death when his Meteor jet failed to take off and ploughed off the end of a runway in Cambridgeshire. Trapped in the burning plane, Tebbit managed to force open the cockpit canopy. His aircraft was completely destroyed. Sixty years later, doctors told him that he'd lived with a cardiac arrhythmia for most of his life. It was possible that he had slipped unconcious on the runway. In 1953, he joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as a pilot and, three years later, married a nurse called Margaret Daines. For the next 17 years, he juggled his flying with a career as an activist for the British Airline Pilots' Association. The man who would later be instrumental in tackling Britain's trade unions became a scourge of the airline's management.

Getty Images Norman Tebbit first became an MP in 1970

The election of a Labour government in 1964 spurred him towards politics. He was eventually selected as the Conservative candidate for Epping, a seat once held by Sir Winston Churchill. He won his chance after giving a characteristically robust Tebbit speech. It advocated selling off state-owned industries, trade union reform, immigration control and an attack on the so-called permissive society. The seat then contained the Labour stronghold of Harlow, but an energetic campaign, coupled with the overconfidence of the sitting Labour MP, saw Tebbit victorious in 1970.

Getty Images Norman Tebbit rapidly became disillusioned with Sir Edward Heath's style of leadership

He quickly became disillusioned with Ted Heath's leadership. Tebbit felt that the radical platform on which the Conservatives had won the election was being ignored, in favour of a more consensus style of politics. But in 1972, he accepted a job as parliamentary private secretary to the minister of state for employment, the first rung on the ladder to ministerial office. His new post was not to last long. Angered by Heath's adoption of a prices and incomes policy - a clear breach of a manifesto promise - and his failure to curb union influence, Tebbit resigned from the government.

Getty Images Norman Tebbit's appointment as Employment Secretary signalled a tougher approach to the Trade Unions

Three months later, the Conservatives were out of office. Tebbit, now the member for the newly created seat of Chingford, would gain a reputation as a thorn in the side of Labour ministers. In 1975, he clashed with the Employment Secretary Michael Foot over the government's failure to condemn the dismissal of six power station workers. The men had refused to join a trade union following the imposition of a new closed shop agreement at the plant. Tebbit revelled in his ability to get under the government's skin. "I was quite amused to find that, as a maverick backbencher with no formal standing, I could lure ministers into wasting their time, and fire power, on such an unimportant target," he said. Foot fired back, famously comparing Tebbit to a "semi-house-trained polecat" during a debate on parliamentary business.

PA He became a favourite at Conservative Party conferences

When the Conservatives won the 1979 election, Margaret Thatcher appointed Tebbit as an under secretary of state at the Department of Trade. Within 18 months, he was employment secretary, a move that signalled the government's intention to take a tough line on industrial relations. In the autumn of 1981, with three million unemployed and with riots blighting a number of inner city areas, Tebbit made the speech for which he will always be remembered. Addressing the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, he strayed from his prepared text to remember how his father had reacted to his own unemployment. "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." The trade unions and the labour movement were outraged, claiming that Tebbit had told the unemployed to "get on your bike". But the education secretary insisted his emphasis had been on condemning the riots.

Getty Images Norman and Margaret Tebbit at the 1983 Conservative party conference. A year later, they were both badly injured in a terrorist attack

His 1982 Employment Act raised the level of compensation for workers dismissed for refusing to join a union. It also made any closed shop agreement subject to regular ballots and removed the immunity of trade unions from civil action if they authorised illegal industrial action. Tebbit later claimed that this was "my finest achievement in government". In 1983, he became trade and industry secretary, following the resignation of Cecil Parkinson over an extra-marital affair. During his tenure, he presided over the Thatcher government's privatisation programme and was instrumental in encouraging foreign investors to Britain, not least the establishment of a Nissan car plant. But the IRA bomb which exploded in Brighton's Grand Hotel during the 1984 Conservative conference changed his life forever.

He and his wife were badly injured in the 1984 Brighton bombing

The attack killed five people and injured more than 30 others. He and his wife were trapped under tons of debris. They laid together, holding hands, waiting for help. Tebbit gave Margaret a message to give to their children, in case he died. He was left with a broken shoulder blade, fractured vertebrae, a cracked collar bone and needing plastic surgery - but was back at his desk within three months. Margaret was less fortunate. As a result of her injuries, she remained paralysed and faced months of hospital treatment. She returned home in a wheelchair and the Tebbits' domestic life had to adapt accordingly.

Getty Images Norman Tebbit celebrates the Conservative party's 1987 election victory, watched by Margaret and Denis Thatcher

Following a cabinet reshuffle in the autumn of 1985, he left the DTI to become Conservative Party chairman. He threw himself into rebuilding a moribund organisation, launching a membership drive and preparing the party for the next election. Tebbit used the 1986 Conservative conference to launch an election campaign in all but name, under the slogan, The Next Move Forward. Margaret Thatcher's popularity rating was beginning to slide, and some commentators began talking about the succession. Polls suggested that Norman Tebbit might be a popular choice in a future leadership contest, which made relations with the prime minister difficult. In the end, the 1987 election resulted in a Conservative landslide.

Getty Images Lord Tebbit became a powerful voice of euro-scepticism from outside the House of Commons

Tebbit left the cabinet after the election to look after his wife. But his ability to create controversy had not deserted him. In 1990, he suggested that a test of the willingness of ethic minorities in Britain to assimilate was to see if they supported the England cricket team or the side from their country of origin. He turned down an invitation from Thatcher to return to the government as education secretary, but steadfastly supported her when her leadership was challenged and she was eventually forced from office. He decided not to seek election in 1992, and was created a life peer as Baron Tebbit of Chingford.

He devoted many years to looking after his wife

He was not content to sit quietly in the Lords. He embarrassed new Prime Minister John Major with a show-stopping appearance during the 1992 party conference debate on Europe, when he lambasted the decision to sign the Maastricht Treaty. He later criticised the Conservative Party's move to a moderate, right of centre position, saying this allowed UKIP to hoover up the political right. In 2009, he published The Game Cook which instructed readers on the best way to cook game, after his local butcher told him that none of his customers knew how to prepare a pheasant. Having campaigned for Brexit, he grew impatient with Theresa May's negotiations with Brussels - accusing the government of "thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners".

Getty Images Lord Tebbit calls to somebody in the crowd after Lady Thatcher's funeral in 2013

Why was Oscar Piastri penalised at Silverstone when George Russell wasn't for his actions behind the safety car in Canada? Is the difference that one was in the wet and therefore visibility limited? - Nick

This is a question Piastri was clearly asking himself after the British Grand Prix, even if he did not say so in quite so many words.

Consistency of stewards' opinions is something teams and drivers are constantly asking for, and on the face of it this does look like a contradiction.

The two incidents were very similar. In Canada, Russell braked and Max Verstappen passed him. At Silverstone, Piastri did the same with the same result.

In Canada, the stewards took no action, and rejected a post-race protest from Red Bull. At Silverstone, Piastri lost the win as a consequence of a 10-second penalty.

There were some differences, however. The brake pressure Piastri applied, while perfectly normal for a braking event behind a safety car, was more than double Russell's. And the conditions were different - wet rather than dry - with the reduced visibility that came from that.

Verstappen made it clear he did not view the incidents that differently, however.

After Sunday's race, he was asked if he thought Piastri deserved a penalty.

"The thing is that it happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario," Verstappen said. "I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds."

Because there was no difference to what Russell did in Canada?

"Well, to the stewards, yes," Verstappen replied.

Piastri said he felt he had done everything within the rules, and implied he had been unlucky to be braking at the same time the safety car lights went out to indicate a restart - the time after which drivers are not allowed "erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers".

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "I wasn't surprised to see him get a penalty. That was what you would expect."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said he felt the penalty was "very harsh" and he would discuss it with the stewards.

He said McLaren had made the point during the race it should be looked at afterwards.

"I think we should have checked in detail the opinion of the drivers involved," he said. "We should have checked why the safety car was called in so late and then put together all the elements such that the decision could be as fair as possible."

Children living in 'Dickensian' poverty, commissioner warns

20 minutes ago Share Save Francesca Gillett and Kathryn Armstrong BBC News Share Save

Getty Images The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimates that lifting the two-child benefit cap would lift 500,000 children out of relative poverty

Some children are living in "Dickensian" levels of poverty, according to England's children's commissioner. In a report published on Tuesday, Dame Rachel de Souza said children have described living in homes with rats, seeing bacon as a luxury food and not having a place to wash. She insisted the government should scrap the two-child benefit cap, which stops most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017. A spokesperson for the government said it was "determined to bring down child poverty" and had announced a £1bn package to improve crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside term time.

The report, which was commissioned by the government and is based on the experiences of 128 children across the country between January and March this year, noted a range of concerns - including lack of access to quality, healthy food and living in cramped and poor conditions. Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday as her office published the report, Dame Rachel said she had been doing the job for four years but was shocked "by how much worse things have got." "It really is Dickensian and there are a huge number of children now who have dropped below what anyone of us would think is reasonable," she continued. "The children who have got no food to eat, the children who can't wash their clothes so they are going to school dirty and if they're lucky the school are washing their clothes for them. "I had one child tell me about his shame because he couldn't have his friends round because in the night rats came and bit his face."

Dame Rachel said many people are going in and out of having to use universal credit "because of poor rates of pay in their work and because of sickness"

Chef's food 'decoration' at Chinese pre-school poisons 233 children

A photo provided by the kindergarten to parents show bright yellow corn rolls and stir-fried vegetables

The school principal asked the kitchen staff to buy the paint online, according to a police statement.

In total, 233 children from Peixin Kindergarten had high levels of lead in their blood after eating steamed red date cake and sausage corn bun.

Eight people have been arrested after tests showed the food samples from a kindergarten in Tianshui City in Gansu province had lead levels that were 2,000 times over the national safety limit.

More than 200 children are being treated in hospital with lead poisoning in north-west China after school chefs used inedible paint to decorate their food.

But after the children fell ill, officers had to search for the supplies which had been hidden.

The paint was clearly marked as inedible, the statement said.

One parent told the BBC that he was worried about the long-term effects of lead poisoning on his son's liver and digestive system.

Mr Liu took his child to hospital in Xi'an for testing last week after other parents raised the alarm. His son now needs 10 days of treatment and medication.

Chinese state media aired footage which it said was from CCTV cameras in the kitchen which showed staff adding paint pigment to the food.

Investigators found that the red date cake and the corn sausage rolls had lead levels of 1052mg/kg and 1340mg/kg respectively which both exceed the national food safety standard limit of 0.5mg/kg.

The principal of the privately-run kindergarten and seven others, including its main investor, will now be investigated on suspicion of producing toxic and harmful food.

It is not known how long the paint has been used in the food, but several parents told Chinese state media that their children have been complaining of stomach and leg pain and a lack of appetite since March.

An investigation was launched after they raised their concerns with the local authorities.

The mayor of Tianshui, Liu Lijiang, said the incident exposed shortcomings and loopholes in public food safety supervision and the city would draw lessons from the event.

Man shot and seriously injured by Kent Police

Officers were called to an incident near the Park Gate Inn in Hollingbourne on Monday evening

A man has been seriously injured when he was shot by police in Kent.

The incident happened on Monday after officers were called to an address in Hollingbourne to conduct an arrest at approximately 19.15 BST.

The man, who has yet to be identified, was taken to hospital with what are thought to be life-changing injuries.

Kent Police said that "while at the scene, a firearm was discharged" by one of its officers and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has confirmed it is investigating.

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