Lady Tebbit, campaigner and former nurse badly injured in the 1984 Brighton bombing – obituary
Cared for by her husband Norman after the blast at the Conservative Party conference, she went on to champion research into spinal injuries
21 December 2020 • 5:50pm
Margaret and Norman Tebbit at the 1983 Conservative Party conference, one year before the bombing
Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
Lady Tebbit, who has died aged 86, suffered severe spinal injuries when the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel at Brighton during the 1984 Conservative conference, also seriously injuring her husband, the Trade and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit.
Though paralysed below the neck Margaret Tebbit fought back, with the support of her husband, to lead a reasonably full life within the constraints of her need for 24-hour care. She campaigned for greater mobility for the disabled, and for a national training scheme for carers.
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Lady Margaret Tebbit, survivor of Brighton bombing, dies aged 86
Wife of Lord Tebbit passes away at couple s home in Suffolk after suffering from Lewy Body Dementia for many years
Norman and Margaret Tebbit at home in the family garden
Credit: Les Wilson/Mail on Sunday
Lord Tebbit is mourning the death of his wife Margaret, 36 years after she was left paralysed by the IRA s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
Lady Tebbit passed away at the couple s Suffolk home in the early hours of Saturday following years suffering from Lewy Body Dementia, which left the 86-year-old needing 24-hour nursing care.
Her husband always called her my Margaret , but it was not in order to distinguish her from the other Margaret in his life.
Instead, there was a profound tenderness in his use of the possessive. It was a mark of how, throughout their 64-year marriage, she had always been by far the most important person in his life.
If anyone had ever doubted the depth of the love and devotion that Norman Tebbit gave to his wife Margaret, they had only to see him pushing her wheelchair any time in the past 36 years, smiling determinedly in the face of their shared tragedy, refusing to wince from his own permanent pain, challenging the world to dare pity them.