Editing Norman Tebbit (section)

===Backbenches===
As Trade and Industry Secretary, Tebbit had privatised British Telecom in November 1984. He became a director of the company on 3 November 1987; this gave him an additional salary plus shares in the company.

In late 1987 and 1988, Tebbit formed a temporary alliance with [[Michael Heseltine]] in campaigning for the abolition of the [[Inner London Education Authority]], which they succeeded in achieving through a backbench amendment.<ref>Watkins, p. 91.</ref>

Tebbit was also prominent in an unsuccessful Conservative backbench rebellion against a Bill to give 50,000 households (around 250,000 people) from Hong Kong [[British Nationality (Hong Kong) Selection Scheme|British citizenship]].<ref>Whitney, Craig R., 10 January 1990. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDA1E3CF933A25752C0A966958260 Big British Fight Shapes Up On Hong Kong Emigre Plan]. Retrieved 8 July 2008.</ref><ref>Rule, Sheila. 20 April 1990. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DB1338F933A15757C0A966958260 Britain Will Offer Refuge to 50,000 Successful Hong Kong Families]. Retrieved 8 July 2008.</ref>

In April 1988, Tebbit caused much controversy when, in front of an audience of South African dignitaries, he accused critics of South African apartheid of cowardice and stinking hypocrisy. He said that, although black critics attacked apartheid in South Africa, they did not speak out against violence among black tribes in South Africa. Archbishop [[Desmond Tutu]] was visiting London at the time and called on Thatcher to repudiate the remarks; instead, she defended Tebbit.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jVgVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5109,5357391&dq=norman+tebbit&hl=en |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Row over Tory Chief's Support |date=22 April 1988 |access-date=17 August 2014}}</ref>

In April 1990, he proposed the "[[Cricket test]]", also known as the "Tebbit Test", when he argued that whether people from [[ethnic minority|ethnic minorities]] in Britain supported the England cricket team (rather than the team from their country of ancestry) should be considered a barometer—but not the sole indicator—of whether they are truly British: "A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?"<ref>John Carvel, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jan/08/britishidentity.race 'Tebbit's cricket loyalty test hit for six'], ''The Guardian'', 8 January 2004.</ref>

Tebbit told Woodrow Wyatt in 1991 that he did not think certain immigrant communities would assimilate "because some of them insist on sticking to their own culture, like the Muslims in Bradford and so forth, and they are extremely dangerous".<ref>Woodrow Wyatt, ''The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume Two'' (Pan, 2000), p. 530.</ref> In August 2005, after the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]], which were carried out by three young men of Pakistani descent and one of Jamaican descent, Tebbit claimed vindication for these views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2005/8/19/cricket-test-could-have-prevented-terror-atta |title='Tebbit: 'Cricket test' could have stopped bombings' |date=19 August 2005 |publisher=Epolitix.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715001703/http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2005/8/19/cricket-test-could-have-prevented-terror-atta |access-date=17 August 2014|archive-date=15 July 2014 }}</ref>

In a conversation with Woodrow Wyatt on 19 December 1988, Tebbit said he would not go back into politics unless Thatcher "was run over by the proverbial bus and he didn't like the look of the person he thought might get her job and destroy the work they've done".<ref>Wyatt, ''Volume One'', p. 692.</ref> On another occasion (22 February 1990), Tebbit said to Wyatt that he would stand for the Conservative leadership if Thatcher suddenly resigned; but when [[Alec Douglas-Home]] suggested that Thatcher would not stand at the next election because she must be tired, Tebbit disagreed: "She has got amazing stamina".<ref>Wyatt, ''Volume Two'', pp. 244–5.</ref>

Following [[Geoffrey Howe]]'s resignation from the government in November 1990, Thatcher asked Tebbit to return to the Cabinet as [[Secretary of State for Education and Skills|Education Secretary]], but he refused on the grounds that he was looking after his disabled wife.<ref>Thatcher, p. 835.</ref> During the [[1990 Conservative Party leadership election|1990 Conservative leadership election]], Tebbit was on Thatcher's campaign team with the job of assessing her support amongst Conservative MPs.<ref>Thatcher, p. 846.</ref> According to Thatcher's biographer [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]], Tebbit was "her most visible cheerleader...who characteristically took the fight to Heseltine by holding a cheeky press conference on his Belgravia doorstep".<ref>Campbell, p. 724.</ref> After the first ballot but before the results became known, Tebbit wanted Thatcher to make a clear commitment to fight the second ballot if her vote fell short of the amount needed to win outright.<ref>Campbell, p. 731.</ref> When Tebbit saw Thatcher on 21 November he told her she was the candidate with the best chance of beating Heseltine.<ref>Thatcher, p. 847.</ref> However, Thatcher withdrew from the contest the next day. Tebbit wanted to stand, but never did. Tebbit subsequently switched his support to [[John Major]].<ref>Watkins, p. 215.</ref>

After Major came back from Maastricht with an opt-out from the Social Chapter and the single currency, Tebbit was one of the few MPs in the debate on 18 December 1991 to criticise the new powers the Community would acquire. He claimed the government had been on the defensive against "federalist follies" and that Maastricht had seen "a series of bridgeheads into our constitution, into the powers of this House, and into the lives of individuals and businesses".<ref>Christopher Booker and Richard North, ''The Great Deception. A Secret History of the European Union'' (Continuum, 2003), p. 276.</ref>