Editing Norman Tebbit (section)

==After leaving the House of Commons==
Tebbit decided not to stand in the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 election]], to devote more time to caring for his disabled wife. Following the election he was granted a [[life peer]]age and entered the [[House of Lords]], having been created '''Baron Tebbit''', of [[Chingford]] in the [[London Borough of Waltham Forest]], on 6 July 1992.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52986 |date=9 July 1992 |page=11599}}</ref> His former seat of Chingford was aggregated in 1997 with [[Woodford Green]] in boundary changes and was held for the Conservative Party by his successor and protégé [[Iain Duncan Smith]]. Tebbit famously said: "If you think I'm right-wing, you should meet this guy".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/2152093.stm |work=BBC News | title=Thursday 25&nbsp;July | date=25 July 2002 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref>

===Maastricht Treaty and Europe===

{{Main|Maastricht Treaty}}

On 11 August 1992, Woodrow Wyatt noted in his diary: "[Thatcher] also seems to have formed a new alliance with Tebbit who stirs her up and talks a lot of nonsense [about the Treaty]."<ref>Woodrow Wyatt, ''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume Three'' (Pan, 2001), p. 83.</ref>

At the October 1992 Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, Tebbit embarrassed [[John Major]]'s government when he made a speech attacking the Treaty. As he walked up onto the podium he was applauded by some sections of the audience, described as "young, in t-shirts, aggressively self-confident – the lager louts of our party" in the diary of the Conservative Party chairman of the time, [[Norman Fowler]].<ref>Norman Fowler, ''A Political Suicide'' (Politico's, 2008), p. 133.</ref> Tebbit held aloft a copy of the Treaty and asked the conference a series of questions about the Treaty: did they want to see a single currency or be citizens of a European Union? The audience shouted back "No!" after each question. Tebbit received a tumultuous standing ovation and walked into the centre of the conference hall waving amongst the cheers. [[Gyles Brandreth]], a Conservative whip, wrote in his diary:

<blockquote>The talk of the town is Norman Tebbit's vulgar grand-standing barn-storming performance on Europe. He savaged Maastricht, poured scorn on monetary union, patronised the PM...and brought the conference (or a good part of it) to its feet roaring for more. He stood there, arms aloft, acknowledging the ovation, Norman the conqueror.<ref>Gyles Brandreth, ''Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, 1992–97'' (Phoenix, 2000), p. 124.</ref></blockquote>

In his memoirs, Major accused Tebbit of hypocrisy and disloyalty because Tebbit had encouraged Conservative MPs to vote for the [[Single European Act]] in 1986 but was now campaigning for Maastricht's rejection.<ref>[[John Major]], ''The Autobiography'' (HarperCollins, 2000), p. 861.</ref>

In March 2007, Tebbit became patron of the cross-party [[Better Off Out]] campaign, which advocated British withdrawal from the EU.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6511701.stm |work=BBC News | title=Tebbit supports EU exit campaign | date=30 March 2007 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> Tebbit issued a statement explaining his support:

<blockquote>From being a supporter of British membership of the Common Market in 1970 I have come to believe that the United Kingdom would be Better Off Out of the developing European Republic of the 21st century. We British have a thousand year history of self-government. We have been free and democratic longer than any other nation. The European Union is too diverse, too bureaucratic, too corporatist and too centralist to be a functioning democracy. We are happy to trade with our European friends and the rest of the world – but we would prefer to govern ourselves.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.betteroffout.net/supporters/ |title=Better Off Out Supporters |publisher=Better Off Out |access-date=9 November 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130620024415/http://www.betteroffout.net/supporters/ |archive-date=20 June 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref></blockquote>

===Involvement with the Conservative Party after 1992===

Tebbit privately said of John Major on 17 November 1994: "He has the mulishness of a weak man with stupidity". When asked what would it take for him to support Major, Tebbit responded: "Have an entirely new department, the sole job of which would be to deal with the Brussels machinery in every aspect. I agree that we don't want to leave the EU, but we've got to manipulate it and block every single advance we don't like. No, no, no must be his weapon. Veto everything he disapproves of or that we disapprove of".<ref>Wyatt, ''Volume Three'', pp. 437–8.</ref>

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

In an interview for the ''[[New Statesman]]'' magazine in June 2000, Tebbit praised Hague's right-ward shift and said that he had "never been a [Michael] Portillo fan". He also mused on not standing for the Conservative leadership after Thatcher's resignation: "When I look at what happened to the party, I tell myself that perhaps I failed in a duty. I suppose I am one of those who have it on my conscience that I allowed Mr Blair to become Prime Minister". When asked if he regretted also allowing Major to become Prime Minister, Tebbit responded:

<blockquote>I helped him. If I'd opposed him, he wouldn't have been on the radar screen. I'd have been opposing Michael Heseltine. I had to make the decision quickly. I didn't want to go back on my word to my wife that I'd retired from front-line politics. How would it all work? Was No 10 suitable for someone in a wheelchair? All these things go through one's mind. Then if Michael had won...he would have had to ask me to join his government, and I didn't want that. I asked myself: why am I risking all this? And I made my decision...I might have been an absolute disaster in the job. It's possible. So I am left there. You can't rewrite it. You can't rerun it.<ref name="newstatesman1"/></blockquote>

In August 2002, Tebbit called on the then leader of the Conservatives, [[Iain Duncan Smith]], to "clear out" Conservative Central Office of "squabbling children" who were involved with infighting within the Party.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3580542/IDS-must-sack-the-squabbling-children.html|last= Tebbit |first= Norman |date= 18 August 2002 |work= The Daily Telegraph |access-date=18 May 2013 |location=London |title=IDS must sack the squabbling children}}</ref> He named [[Mark MacGregor]], a former leader of the [[Federation of Conservative Students]] which Tebbit disbanded for "loony Right libertarian politics", as one of them. Then, in October the same year, Tebbit accused a group of Conservative "modernisers" called "The Movement" of trying to get him expelled from the Party. 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. Duncan Smith subsequently denied that Tebbit would ever be expelled and Thatcher publicly said she was "appalled" at attempts to have Tebbit expelled and telephoned him to say that she was "four square behind him".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-26276393_ITM | work=Europe Intelligence Wire | title=Thatcher 'appalled' by attacks on Tebbit | date=12 October 2002}}</ref>

In February 2003, Tebbit gave a speech to an audience of the [[Chartered Institute of Journalists]] at London's [[Reform Club]] in [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]], urging journalists to reject [[political correctness]] in favour of "open, honest and vigorous debate". He blamed "timid" politicians, including members of his own party, for allowing PC language and ideas to take hold in Britain by default.<ref>''[[Press Gazette]]'', London, 21 February 2003.</ref>

Tebbit backed [[David Davis (British politician)|David Davis]] for Party leader during the [[2005 Conservative leadership election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/davis-wins-tebbits-backing-p5jth3sg7d8|title= Davis wins Tebbit's backing|last1= Bennett|first1= Rosemary |date= 8 November 2005 |work=[[The Times]] |access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref>

On 30 January 2006, he accused the Conservative Party of abandoning the party's true supporters on the Right, and opposed the new Leader [[David Cameron]]'s attempts "to reposition the party on the 'Left of the middle ground'".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1509210/Dont-be-fooled-by-Cameron-Tebbit-to-warn-Right.html |title=Don't be fooled by Cameron, Tebbit to warn Right |last1= Helm |first1= Toby |last2=Rennie |first2=David |date=30 January 2006 |work= The Daily Telegraph |access-date=18 May 2013 |location=London}}</ref>

In an interview with ''[[The Times]]'' in September 2007, Tebbit said the Conservatives lack somebody of the standing of Thatcher, and said that although it did not matter if Cameron's team were educated at Eton, "what a lot of people will suggest is that they don't know how the other half lives. David and his colleagues – the very clever young men they have in Central Office these days – are very intellectually clever, but they have no experience of the world whatsoever. He has spent much of his time in the Conservative Party and as a public relations guy. Well, it's not the experience of most people in the streets. That's the real attack and that's damaging to him, I think".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/09/29/the-torchbearer/ |title=Ginny Dougary, 'Norman Tebbit discusses Cameron, loss and multiculturalism'; The Times |publisher=Ginnydougary.co.uk |date=29 September 2007 |access-date=17 August 2014 |archive-date=6 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106073529/http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/09/29/the-torchbearer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article2023900.ece |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200226133427/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article2023900.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 February 2020 |title=Tebbit hits out at Tories and names Brown as Thatcher's natural heir |last1=Webster |first1= Philip |date=26 September 2007 |work= [[The Times]] |access-date=18 May 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Norman Tebbit Edinburgh University Politics Society 2008.JPG|thumb|upright|Tebbit giving a talk for the [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh University]] Politics Society in 2008]]
In February 2008, after a magazine article written by shadow education secretary [[Michael Gove]], Tebbit publicly criticised what he characterised as "the poisonous tree of Blairism", which he said had been "planted" in the Conservative Party front bench.<ref>Andrew Porter [https://web.archive.org/web/20080504015414/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/1580149/Lord-Tebbit-warns-on-worship-of-Tony-Blair.html "Lord Tebbit warns on worship of Tony Blair"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 18 April 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.</ref>

Tebbit is the vice-president of the [[Conservative Way Forward]] group. He 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]] (UKIP), including two MP defections, both from the Conservatives.<ref>[http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Tebbit-Tories-struggle-election-unless-UKIP/story-25798093-detail/story.html "Lord Tebbit: Tories will struggle in election unless UKIP implode"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103014745/http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Tebbit-Tories-struggle-election-unless-UKIP/story-25798093-detail/story.html |date=3 January 2015 }} ''[[Western Morning News]]'', 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.</ref>

Tebbit retired from the House of Lords on 31 March 2022, under provision in the [[House of Lords Reform Act 2014]].<ref name="hol-retirement"/>

===Other political views===
====Overseas aid====
Speaking in the Lords on 26 November 1996, Lord Tebbit criticised aid to Africa, saying that most aid sent to Africa goes down a "sink of iniquity, corruption and violence" and does little to help the poor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/vo961126/text/61126-03.htm|title=Lords Hansard text for 26 Nov 1996 (161126-03)|first=Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Lords|last=Westminster|access-date=6 September 2017|archive-date=11 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511082756/https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/vo961126/text/61126-03.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> A spokesman for the charity Oxfam said Tebbit's view was "simplistic and unhelpful". Later Lord Tebbit defended his statement that most money went "into the pockets" of politicians "to buy guns for warlords".<ref>''The Daily Telegraph'', 27 November 1996.</ref>

====Homosexuality====
In a letter to ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' in November 1998, Tebbit said homosexuals should be barred from being Home Secretary.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/11/02/nteb02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030523052202/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=%2Farchive%2F1998%2F11%2F02%2Fnteb02.html |archive-date=23 May 2003 |first=George |last=Jones |title=Keep gays out of top Government jobs, says Tebbit |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2 November 1998 |access-date=5 October 2013 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref> A Conservative Party spokesman said Tebbit was "out of touch" and the official spokesman for [[William Hague]], then Conservative Party leader, said Hague disagreed with Tebbit.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/11/03/nteb03.html=/archive/1998/11/02/nteb02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030512012645/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=%2Farchive%2F1998%2F11%2F03%2Fnteb03.html |archive-date=12 May 2003 |first=Robert |last=Shrimsley |title=Tory leaders reject Tebbit's views on gays |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=3 November 1999 |access-date=5 October 2013 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2013, he wrote in his ''Telegraph'' blog that his views concerning whether a homosexual person could be Home Secretary had changed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100217539/ignore-the-squeaks-from-the-timid-its-time-to-enact-the-referendum-bill/?ico=^editors_choice|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091157/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100217539/ignore-the-squeaks-from-the-timid-its-time-to-enact-the-referendum-bill/?ico=%5Eeditors_choice|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 March 2016|title=Ignore the squeaks from the timid. It's time to enact the EU referendum bill| date=17 May 2013| access-date= 4 February 2022 |location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>

In 2004, he opposed the British Government's [[Civil Partnership Act 2004]]. In an interview for ''[[The Big Issue]]'' in May 2013, Lord Tebbit said that the coalition government's determination to pass the [[Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill]] had alienated grassroots Tories. He also 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 (United Kingdom)|inheritance tax]].<ref name="bigissue">{{cite web |last1=Delaney |first1=Sam |title=Lord Tebbit: Gay marriage, a lesbian queen – full interview |url=https://www.bigissue.com/news/politics/lord-tebbit-gay-marriage-lesbian-queen-full-interview/ |publisher=The Big Issue |access-date=4 February 2022 |date=30 May 2013}}</ref>

In 2018, 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. Tebbit described Hawes as a "sodomite". Hawes said that he felt "absolutely no ill will" towards Tebbit for his comments and stated: "I have always admired the way in which Lord Tebbit has cared for his wife with such devotion following the Brighton bomb."<ref>{{cite news|title=New dean feels 'no ill will' towards Lord Tebbit following controversial 'sodomite' comment|url=http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/new-dean-feels-no-ill-will-towards-lord-tebbit-following-controversial-sodomite-comment-1-5517711|work=East Anglian Daily Times|date=14 May 2018|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref>

====Northern Ireland====

In October 1999, he spoke out against the plans to abolish the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]]. 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". Tebbit also mocked Blair's pledge at the Labour conference to "set people free": "He has set them free. More than 250 terrorists, bombers and extortionists. Kneecappers, kidnappers, arsonists and killers have been set free. But their victims remain imprisoned. Some are imprisoned within broken bodies. Some imprisoned in grief for their loved ones. Some imprisoned by death in their graves".<ref>George Jones, Polly Newton Andrew Sparrow, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1999/10/06/ntory06.html 'Tebbit launches bitter attack on Patten's proposals for RUC']{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 6 October 1999.</ref>

====Other parties====
In an article for ''The Spectator'' in May 2001 Tebbit said that retired British security service agents from the [[Foreign Office]] had infiltrated [[James Goldsmith]]'s [[Referendum Party]] in the 1990s and then later infiltrated UKIP. Tebbit called for an independent enquiry into the matter.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/26th-may-2001/16/ukip-is-there-a-hidden-agenda | title=UKIP: Is there a hidden agenda? | date=25 May 2001 | work=The Spectator | first=Norman | last=Tebbit }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/newsid_1348000/1348222.stm |work=BBC News  | title=Tebbit secret agent claim | date=23 May 2001 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/386/mi6-ukip.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213222839/http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/386/mi6-ukip.html|url-status=dead|title=Weekly Worker 386 Thursday 31 May 2001|archive-date=13 February 2009}}</ref>

====Miners' strike====
In 2009, Tebbit said he had regrets about the [[1984–1985 miners' strike]]:

<blockquote>Those mining communities had good working class values and a sense of family values. The men did real men's heavy work going down the pit. There were also some very close-knit communities which were able to deal with the few troublesome kids. If they had any problems they would take the kid round the back and give them a good clip round the ear and that would be the end of that. Many of these communities were completely devastated, with people out of work turning to drugs and no real man's work because all the jobs had gone. There is no doubt that this led to a breakdown in these communities with families breaking up and youths going out of control. The scale of the closures went too far. The damage done to those communities was enormous as a result of the strike.<ref>Francis Beckett and David Hencke, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=552eBAAAQBAJ&q=clip Marching to the Fault Line. The Miners' Strike and the Battle for Industrial Britain]'' (Constable, 2009), pp. 261–262.</ref></blockquote>

====Immigration====
In June 2014, in response to an [[Trojan Horse scandal|alleged Islamist plot to infiltrate schools in Birmingham]], Tebbit wrote in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', "No one should have been surprised at what was going on in schools in Birmingham. It is precisely what I was talking about over 20 years ago and [[Enoch Powell]] was warning against long before that. We have imported far too many immigrants who have come here not to live in our society, but to replicate here the society of their homelands."<ref>{{cite news|author1=Tebbit, Norman|author-link1=Norman Tebbit|title=Trojan Horse: I warned about this years ago|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100275737/trojan-horse-i-warned-about-this-years-ago/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614001133/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100275737/trojan-horse-i-warned-about-this-years-ago/|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 June 2014|access-date=19 January 2015|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=10 June 2014}}</ref>

===="Foreigners" speech====
In 2017, Lord Tebbit criticised a Lords amendment to the [[European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017|Brexit bill]] which would guarantee the rights of EU citizens to live and work within the UK after [[Brexit]]. He also criticised the Lords for "thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners" and "[looking] after the foreigners and not the British",<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bienkov|first1=Adam|title=Lord Tebbit: 'We seem to be thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners'|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/lord-tebbit-norman-rights-of-foreigners-eu-citizens-british-brexit-2017-3|access-date=5 March 2017|work=Business Insider|date=1 March 2017|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404001230/http://uk.businessinsider.com/lord-tebbit-norman-rights-of-foreigners-eu-citizens-british-brexit-2017-3|url-status=live}}</ref> as [[Theresa May]] had hoped to leave this amendment out of the bill to secure the rights of British citizens living in EU countries post-Brexit. His comments produced "loud gasps" from the majority of peers<ref>{{cite news|last1=Merrick|first1=Rob|title=Lord Tebbit accuses peers trying to guarantee EU nationals' rights of 'thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-bill-lord-tebbit-right-eu-nationals-foreigners-comments-a7606456.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-bill-lord-tebbit-right-eu-nationals-foreigners-comments-a7606456.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=5 March 2017|work=The Independent|date=1 March 2017}}</ref> (but gained audible support by a number on the Conservative benches),<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rayner|first1=Gordon|last2=Hope|first2=Christopher|last3=McCann|first3=Kate|title=Theresa May plans to trigger Brexit in two weeks despite defeat by 'posturing' Lords over rights of EU citizens|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/brexit-lords-vote-debate-theresa-may-pmqs-live/|access-date=5 March 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=2 March 2017}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Craig|first1=Jon|title=Not even Lloyd Webber can save the Tories|url=http://news.sky.com/story/not-even-sir-andrew-lloyd-webber-can-save-the-tories-10786966|access-date=5 March 2017|publisher=Sky News|date=2 March 2017}}</ref>