It wasn’t so much a gathering of the Thatcher clan, because there are not many of her cabinet ministers from the 1980s still around these days.
But the majority of the Tory grandees who gathered at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk for the funeral of her most loyal ally, Norman Tebbit, were indeed Thatcher devotees.
Paying tribute to the politician known as “the first Brexiteer” and “the grandfather of Brexit” were Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mark Francois, former 1922 Committee chairman Lord Graham Brady and Liz Truss’s deputy PM Therese Coffey.
From the Thatcher years was the novelist and Tory cheerleader Jeffrey Archer with his wife Mary, John Gummer, now Lord Deben, who was Tory chairman in the mid ’80s, and the husband and wife political duo Neil and Christine Hamilton.
But there was no sign of Lord Tebbit’s old foes over Europe, such as Thatcher cabinet big beasts Lord Michael Heseltine or Lord Kenneth Clarke, or Tory leaders with whom he clashed over Europe, such as Sir John Major and Lord David Cameron.
Lord Jeffrey Archer, former Tory MP and novelist. Pic: PA
Family members were seen arriving for Lord Tebbit’s funeral. Pic: PA
Typically, given Lord Tebbit’s robustly held, uncompromising beliefs and values, his funeral was a service that was traditional and patriotic. Lady Thatcher would definitely have approved.
It began with Elgar’s stirring Nimrod from the Enigma Variations and the hymns included the Cup Final anthem Abide with Me and I Vow to Thee, My Country, to the music from Holst’s The Planets.
Lord Tebbit’s successor as MP for Chingford, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who attended with his wife Betsy, gave the first reading, the scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which Laertes says goodbye to his sister Ophelia.
When he left the Commons in 1992, Lord Tebbit famously said of his successor, who went on to become Tory leader from 2001 to 2003: “If you think I’m right-wing, you should meet this guy.”
Read more:
Norman Tebbit: Thatcher loyalist and IRA bomb survivor
The order of service
Senior Tory Sir Graham Brady. Pic: PA
One of Baroness Thatcher’s favourite business tycoons, the former P&O boss and major Tory donor Lord Jeffrey Sterling, read The Lord’s My Shepherd, before Lord Tebbit’s children, William, Alison and John, shared some family reflections.
The eulogy was delivered by Lord Michael Dobbs, best known as the author of the 1990s TV political blockbuster House of Cards, but before then an influential Tory insider, working for both Baroness Thatcher and Lord Tebbit.
He worked for Baroness Thatcher when she was opposition leader from 1975-79 and was a special adviser to Lord Tebbit at the departments of employment and then trade and trade and industry, and his chief of staff when he was Tory chairman.
Senior Tory MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith (centre) and Mark Francois (right). Pic: PA
Former Tory environment secretary Lord Deben (John Gummer ). Pic: PA
Former Tory Brexit opportunities minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. Pic: PA
The service ended with references to Lord Tebbit’s early life in the RAF, before he became a commercial pilot, with the Last Post played by an RAF Central Band trumpeter and then the official RAF March.
After the service, Lord Dobbs described Lord Tebbit as “a giant, an inspiring leader”, while Lord Archer said he was “above all, loyal”, adding: “Loyalty was his passion.”
Former Tory MP and ex-UKIP leader Neil Hamilton and his wife, Christine. Pic: PA
Therese Coffey, Deputy PM under Liz Truss. Pic: PA
Sir Iain said Lord Tebbit was his mentor throughout the early part of his political career and said: “He was a tough competitor, but the beauty of it that came out was he had a real soft heart and was kind and had many friends on all sides of the House.”
The funeral was followed by a private cremation and friends have told Sky News a memorial service for Lord Tebbit will be held in due course.
