Editing Norman Tebbit (section)

===Second Thatcher ministry===
The [[Nuffield College, Oxford|Nuffield]] study of the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] found that Tebbit was the second most prominent Conservative on radio and television news broadcasts during the campaign with 81 appearances (after Thatcher's 331 appearances).<ref>Campbell, p. 194.</ref>

In the post-election [[Second Thatcher ministry#Changes|October 1983 reshuffle]], Tebbit was moved from Employment to become [[Trade and Industry Secretary]], replacing [[Cecil Parkinson]], who had resigned. Thatcher had actually wanted Tebbit to become [[Home Secretary]], but [[William Whitelaw]] vetoed this.<ref>Campbell, pp. 205–206.</ref>

Tebbit was injured in the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]]'s [[Brighton hotel bombing|bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton]] during the 1984 Conservative Party conference.<ref name=Ross /> His wife, [[Margaret Tebbit|Margaret]], was permanently disabled.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6622798/Lord-Tebbits-wife-Margaret-Norman-and-I-dont-have-time-to-cry.html |date=22 November 2009 |title=Lord Tebbit's wife Margaret: Norman and I don't have time to cry|last=Donnelly|first=Laura|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=1 August 2017}}</ref>

In 1985, Tebbit was appointed [[Chairman of the Conservative Party]] and [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]], as Thatcher wanted to keep him in the Cabinet. During the [[Westland affair]] Tebbit was against the [[Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation]] taking over [[Westland Aircraft]]. Tebbit opposed the [[1986 United States bombing of Libya]] from British bases and objected to Thatcher's refusal to consult the Cabinet fully on the matter. However, he did criticise the [[BBC]] for its supposedly biased reporting of the raid. During the same year, he disbanded the [[Federation of Conservative Students]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/001216.php|title=FCS twenty years on – Harry Phibbs remembers his days in the Federation of Conservative Students|last1=Phibbs|first1=Harry|date=30 October 2006 |publisher=The Social Affairs Unit|access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref> for publishing an article, penned by Harry Phibbs, following [[Nikolai Tolstoy]]'s accusation that former Conservative Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]] was complicit in the forced repatriation of [[Cossacks]] in the aftermath of the [[Second World War]].

On 13 April 1986, Tebbit and his chief of staff [[Michael Dobbs]] visited Thatcher at [[Chequers]] to present her with the results of polling by [[Saatchi & Saatchi]] which found that with inflation down and the trade unions weakened, "the Prime Minister's combative virtues were being received as vices: her determination was perceived as stubbornness, her single-mindedness as inflexibility, and her strong will as an inability to listen".<ref>Campbell, p. 499.</ref> Tebbit and Dobbs told her this was becoming known as the "TBW factor": TBW standing for "That Bloody Woman". They recommended Thatcher take a lower profile in the forthcoming general election.

A few weeks later, Tebbit gave an interview to [[John Mortimer]] for ''[[The Spectator]]'' where he said of Thatcher: <blockquote>It's a question of her leadership when our aims aren't clearly defined. When people understand what she's doing there's a good deal of admiration for her energy and resolution and persistence, even from those people who don't agree with her. Now there's a perception that we don't know where we're going so those same qualities don't seem so attractive.<ref name=campbell500>Campbell, p. 500.</ref> </blockquote>Thatcher disagreed and her biographer claims she was suspicious of Tebbit's motives. Furthermore, Thatcher commissioned the firm [[Young and Rubicam]] to carry out their own polling, which concluded that Thatcher's leadership was not the problem. Throughout the rest of 1986 and into the 1987 election, Thatcher continued to use Young and Rubicam, which eventually caused tensions with Tebbit during the election campaign.<ref name=campbell500 />

For quite a while, Tebbit was seen as Thatcher's natural successor as Party leader. During early 1986, when Thatcher's popularity declined in the polls, commentators began to suggest that the succession of the Conservative leadership would lie between [[Michael Heseltine]] and Tebbit.<ref>Campbell, p. 498.</ref>

At the 1986 Conservative Party Conference in [[Bournemouth]], Tebbit—along with Saatchi and Saatchi, Dobbs and the Conservatives' Director of Research, [[Robin Harris (author)|Robin Harris]]—came up with the next party slogan—'The Next Move Forward'. For the first time, the Conservatives employed pre-conference advertising to publicise the new-style conference. Tebbit persuaded Thatcher that ministers would state their objectives that they would achieve in the next three years; Saatchi & Saatchi would use these to design posters, leaflets, and brochures to be deployed as each minister finished their speech. The aim "was that in 1986 the media should reflect the image I wanted—of a Government confident, united, clear in where it was going—and determined to get there".<ref>Tebbit, p. 319.</ref> According to Tebbit the conference "was more successful than I had dared to hope ... the opinion polls which had us 7% behind in June and still 5% down in September now put us back into first place—a position we never relinquished from then right through the election campaign. The Prime Minister's ratings were immediately restored".<ref>Tebbit, p. 320.</ref>

A [[MORI]] opinion poll in March 1987 saw Tebbit as second-favourite amongst voters as Thatcher's successor (Heseltine: 24% vs Tebbit: 15%); however, amongst Conservative voters, Tebbit was the front-runner with (Heseltine: 14% vs Tebbit: 21%).<ref>Watkins, p. 88.</ref> In October 1988, MORI asked the same question, with similar results (Heseltine: 22% vs Tebbit: 15%) and (Heseltine: 20% vs Tebbit: 26%) amongst Conservative voters.<ref>Watkins, p. 93.</ref> However, Thatcher apparently once told [[Rupert Murdoch]]: "I couldn't get him elected as leader of the Tory party even if I wanted – nor would the country elect him if he was".<ref>Andrew Neil, ''Full Disclosure'' (Macmillan, 1996), p. 236.</ref>

On 6 January 1987, the journalist [[Hugo Young]] published a quote attributed to Tebbit in ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper. Tebbit's chief of staff, [[Michael Dobbs]], responded by writing a letter to the newspaper citing Young's dislike of Tebbit, adding "Perhaps this explains the invention of the quotation he [Mr Young] attributed to Mr Tebbit". The quote was "No-one with a conscience votes Conservative". Before this letter was published, however, the words "the invention of" had been removed. Despite publishing this letter ''The Guardian'' subsequently repeated the quote, and Young again attributed it to him in a letter to ''[[The Spectator]]''. Tebbit feared that if no action was taken against ''The Guardian'' the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] would use this quote against the Conservatives in the forthcoming general election. With Thatcher's consent Tebbit threatened the newspaper with legal action if they did not retract the quotation and apologise to Tebbit. The case continued until 1988 when ''The Guardian'' apologised, published a retraction and paid £14,000 in libel [[damages]] in an out-of-court settlement.<ref>Tebbit, p. 328.</ref>

During the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]], Tebbit and Saatchi & Saatchi spearheaded the Conservative campaign, focusing on the economy and defence. However, when on 'Wobbly Thursday' it was rumoured a Marplan opinion poll showed a 2% Conservative lead, the 'exiles' camp of [[David Young, Baron Young of Graffham|David Young]], [[Tim Bell]] and the Young and Rubicam firm advocated a more aggressively anti-Labour message. This was when, according to Young's memoirs, Young got Tebbit by the lapels and shook him, shouting: "Norman, listen to me, we're about to lose this fucking election".<ref>Campbell, p. 522.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/13411/has-gordon-brown-delivered-his-last-budget-the-truth-is-that-blair-hasnt-yet-decided/ |title=Has Gordon Brown delivered his last Budget? The truth is that Blair hasn't yet decided |date=19 March 2005 |work=The Spectator |first=Peter |last=Oborne }}</ref> In his memoirs, Tebbit defends the Conservative campaign: "We finished exactly as planned on the ground where Labour was weak and we were strong—defence, taxation, and the economy".<ref>Tebbit, p. 336.</ref> During the election campaign, however, Tebbit and Thatcher argued.<ref>Margaret Thatcher, ''The Downing Street Years'' (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 584.</ref> Tebbit had already informed Thatcher at the beginning of the campaign that he would leave the government after the election to care for his wife.<ref name=tebbit332 />

Thatcher said to her friend [[Woodrow Wyatt]] on the Sunday after polling day in 1987: "He'll carry the scar of that Brighton bombing all his life. I didn't want him to go. Whenever he is away from her he can't even attend to business properly. He's always ringing up to find out if the nurses are looking after his wife all right".<ref>Woodrow Wyatt, ''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume One'' (Pan, 1999), p. 371.</ref> In her memoirs, Thatcher said she "bitterly regretted" losing a like-minded person from the Cabinet.<ref>Thatcher, p. 587.</ref>

On 31 July 1987, Tebbit was appointed to the [[Order of the Companions of Honour]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=51014 |date=31 July 1987 |page=2 |supp=y}}</ref>