Letter: If only we had a prime minister with half the principles Lord Tebbit stood by
A letter from Stephen Cooper:
Lord Tebbit was a titan amongst pygmies in the political sphere in the decades of the eighties and nineties.
After surviving and suffering after the IRA's bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton on October 12, 1984, during the Conservative Party conference, he brought salient and steadfast resistance to the appeasement of same.
I was honoured to meet him on several occasions.
I recall the late Prince Philip insisting on no cutlery at a banquet because of Lord Tebbit's wife Margaret's inability to use cutlery due to her injuries as a result of the Brighton bombing.
Lord Tebbit was in today's parlance ‘old school’, in that he told you the truth, looked you in the eye and left you in no doubt about his sincerity.
It is the measure of the man that he prioritised caring for his beloved wife until her passing above all else.
If only we had a prime minister with half the principles he stood by, we would, and could, be in a much better position internally and globally.
Then again, decades later, nobody has matched the Iron Lady in her opposition to republicans, whom he served under.
Stephen Cooper, Comber