12th October 1984
The Grand Hotel, Brighton
2:45am
The sound of the baying drunken protestors, singing, shouting and jeering outside the Grand Hotel was beginning to bother the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Norman Tebbit, commonly referred to as one of Mrs Thatcher's most loyal minister's suddenly decided enough was enough, in any normal circumstances the drunken protestors outside would have been taken away by the police to spent a night in the cells (*), he'd make sure to enquire as to why they hadn't later. God help them if he'd been Home Secretary. Grumbling, he got up and put on his dressing gown over his pajama's, muttering to himself "They'll pay for this." His wife, Margaret stirred, she was awake seconds later, "What are you doing Norman?" she asked.
"I'm going down to reception to get someone to remove those protestors, I need my sleep and they're not making it any easier"
"Don't create a fuss darling"
"I shall if they want us to come here again"
With that, he set off out the door. After some deliberation, Margaret rose and put on her dressing gown, following her husband down to reception to calm him incase he ended up threatening the staff. As Margaret Tebbit shut the door to their room, it was 2:47am
Seven minutes later, Norman was locked in discussion with the manager who was about to send for the police to quell the drunks outside when a loud bang was heard, almost like a volcanic eruption. Furniture shook in reception with the force of the blast, then came the almighty roar as the side of the hotel in which the Tebbit's room was, damaged by the bomb planted by IRA agent Patrick McGee in Room 629 began to crumble. The Tebbit's ended up crouching behind the front desk with the manager until the roar stopped. That was when the screams began to fill the lobby...
_________________________________________________________________
"The bomb detonated at 2:54am on the 12th of October. Thatcher had been awake, working on her conference speech for the next day. While her suite's bathroom had been destroyed, the sitting room and bedroom escaped damage along with Margaret and Denis Thatcher. She changed clothes and was escorted to Brighton police station with her husband, along with several other Minister's including Deputy Prime Minister Willie Whitelaw and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit, who was still dressed in pajamas along with wife Margaret who had only narrowly escaped the destruction of their room after the Tebbit's went down to reception to complain about drunken protestors singing outside the hotel minutes before the blast."
- Extract from Wikipedia's article about the Brighton Hotel Bombing, 1984
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TEBBIT PROMOTED TO HOME SECRETARY IN WAKE OF IRA ATTACK
- 20th October 1984
_________________________________________________________________
"My sudden promotion to the Home Office as the Prime Minister told me was due to my gung-ho attitude against the IRA in the days following the attack. My conference speech, in which I attacked the very forces of evil which republicanism represented had been well received in the right wing and centrist media and also among the British public. Leon Brittan, who'd been sent to Trade and Industry to replace me was remarkably bitter about the whole process but in my view, he was too weak to execute the position of Home Secretary in a time of national crisis."
- Extract from "Chingford to Westminster", the memoirs of Norman Tebbit
The Grand Hotel, Brighton
2:45am
The sound of the baying drunken protestors, singing, shouting and jeering outside the Grand Hotel was beginning to bother the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Norman Tebbit, commonly referred to as one of Mrs Thatcher's most loyal minister's suddenly decided enough was enough, in any normal circumstances the drunken protestors outside would have been taken away by the police to spent a night in the cells (*), he'd make sure to enquire as to why they hadn't later. God help them if he'd been Home Secretary. Grumbling, he got up and put on his dressing gown over his pajama's, muttering to himself "They'll pay for this." His wife, Margaret stirred, she was awake seconds later, "What are you doing Norman?" she asked.
"I'm going down to reception to get someone to remove those protestors, I need my sleep and they're not making it any easier"
"Don't create a fuss darling"
"I shall if they want us to come here again"
With that, he set off out the door. After some deliberation, Margaret rose and put on her dressing gown, following her husband down to reception to calm him incase he ended up threatening the staff. As Margaret Tebbit shut the door to their room, it was 2:47am
Seven minutes later, Norman was locked in discussion with the manager who was about to send for the police to quell the drunks outside when a loud bang was heard, almost like a volcanic eruption. Furniture shook in reception with the force of the blast, then came the almighty roar as the side of the hotel in which the Tebbit's room was, damaged by the bomb planted by IRA agent Patrick McGee in Room 629 began to crumble. The Tebbit's ended up crouching behind the front desk with the manager until the roar stopped. That was when the screams began to fill the lobby...
_________________________________________________________________
"The bomb detonated at 2:54am on the 12th of October. Thatcher had been awake, working on her conference speech for the next day. While her suite's bathroom had been destroyed, the sitting room and bedroom escaped damage along with Margaret and Denis Thatcher. She changed clothes and was escorted to Brighton police station with her husband, along with several other Minister's including Deputy Prime Minister Willie Whitelaw and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit, who was still dressed in pajamas along with wife Margaret who had only narrowly escaped the destruction of their room after the Tebbit's went down to reception to complain about drunken protestors singing outside the hotel minutes before the blast."
- Extract from Wikipedia's article about the Brighton Hotel Bombing, 1984
_________________________________________________________________
TEBBIT PROMOTED TO HOME SECRETARY IN WAKE OF IRA ATTACK
- 20th October 1984
_________________________________________________________________
"My sudden promotion to the Home Office as the Prime Minister told me was due to my gung-ho attitude against the IRA in the days following the attack. My conference speech, in which I attacked the very forces of evil which republicanism represented had been well received in the right wing and centrist media and also among the British public. Leon Brittan, who'd been sent to Trade and Industry to replace me was remarkably bitter about the whole process but in my view, he was too weak to execute the position of Home Secretary in a time of national crisis."
- Extract from "Chingford to Westminster", the memoirs of Norman Tebbit
