Home > Norman Tebbit

Born in Enfield, he was a journalist on the Financial Times, before serving with the RAF during four years of National Service. On leaving the RAF he joined BOAC in 1953 as a pilot. He entered politics in 1970.

He was a close ally of Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS (born October 13, 1925) is a British politician and the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position she held from 1979 to 1990. She is a member of the Conservative Party and still and served as her Secretary of State for EmploymentMinister of Labour re-directs here. For the Canadian minister of Labour please see Minister of Labour (Canada The Secretary of State for Employment was a UK cabinet position. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretar, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of TradeThe President of the Board of Trade the title of a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. It is the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry . The idea of a Board of Trade was first translated into action by Oliver Crom ( OctoberOctober is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. From the Latin octo for " eight" (it was originally the eighth month of the year, before January and February were inserted). Holidays Halloween Thanksgiving Day in Canada on 1983Events January January 1 Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor January 1 the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. January 1 compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK. January 2 The mu - SeptemberSeptember is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. The name comes from the Latin septem for " seven" September was originally the seventh month of the year, before January and February were inserted. In Greek civilization, S 19851985 is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January events January 1 Creation of the Internet's Domain Name System. January 17 British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous red telephone boxes. January 23 A debate in the House of Lor), as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and as party chairman (1985 - 1987). During the Brighton hotel bombing he was injured and his wife, Margaret, was permanently disabled.

In the aftermath of urban riots in the summer of 1981, Tebbit responded to a suggestion that the rioting was caused by unemployment by saying:

I grew up in the 1930s with an unemployed father. He did not riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he went on looking until he found it.

This exchange was the origin of the attribution to Tebbit of the slogan On yer bike!.

He is also famous for his " cricket test", also known as the "Tebbit test", where he suggested that people from ethnic minorities in Britain should not be considered truly British until they supported the England cricket team, as opposed to the country of their or their ancestors' birth.

Tebbit decided not to stand in the 1992 election. After the election he was granted a peerage and entered the House of Lords. He is a vice-president of the Conservative Way Forward group. His former seat of Chingford was aggregated with Woodford Green in boundary changes and was held for the Conservative Party by his successor, and protégé Iain Duncan Smith.

He is an extreme Eurosceptic and his outspoken views on race and immigration have brought him both support and opprobrium (he was nicknamed the "Chingford skinhead").

In 2004, he continued to provoke strong reactions with his outspoken opposition to the UK Government's Gender Recognition Bill - designed to allow transsexual people to gain legal recognition of their acquired gender - and its Civil Partnership Bill, designed to offer same-sex couples the opportunity to gain legal recognition of their relationship with an associated set of rights and responsibilities.