Editing Norman Tebbit (section)

===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>