Norman Tebbit - Revision history

James Gallagher at 15:08, 3 March 2015

2015-03-03T15:08:11Z

Tom Mills: /* Attacks on the BBC */

2010-01-23T15:01:30Z

Attacks on the BBC

Tom Mills: /* Attacks on the BBC */

2010-01-23T14:53:17Z

Attacks on the BBC

Tom Mills: /* Attacks on the BBC */ Falklands covereage

2010-01-23T14:51:41Z

Attacks on the BBC: Falklands covereage

Tom Mills: /* Attacks on the BBC */

2010-01-23T14:33:20Z

Attacks on the BBC

Tom Mills: /* Biography */

2010-01-11T11:43:01Z

Biography

Tom Mills: /* Biography */

2010-01-11T11:18:56Z

Biography

Tom Mills: /* Biography */

2010-01-11T11:18:26Z

Biography

Tom Mills: /* Biography */ monday club

2010-01-11T11:18:01Z

Biography: monday club

Tom Mills: /* Affiliations */ Monday Club

2010-01-11T11:11:31Z

Affiliations: Monday Club

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 ==Notes==
 <references/>
-[[Category:MP|Tebbit, Norman]][[Category:BBC|Tebbit, Norman]][[Category:Propaganda|Tebbit, Norman]]
+[[Category:MP|Tebbit, Norman]][[Category:BBC|Tebbit, Norman]][[Category:Propaganda|Tebbit, Norman]] [[Category:British Politician|Tebbit, Norman]] [[Category:Conservative Party|Tebbit, Norman]]

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 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">[The] unctuous 'impartiality' of the BBC's editorialising was a source of grief and anger. Few of us concerned will ever forgive the phrase, 'The British authorities, if they are to be believed, say ...' or the regular references to British and Argentinian forces rather than 'our forces' and 'enemy forces'. The elaborate even-handedness jarred cruelly with those whose lives were at risk, those of us who took ultimate responsibility for committing our forces, knowing the human cost of what we had to do, and with the general public. ... For me the British Broadcasting Corporation might have better called itself the Stateless Persons Broadcasting Corporation for it certainly did not reflect the mood of the British people who finance it. <ref>Norman Tebbit, ''Upwardly Mobile'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988) p.196</ref></blockquote>
 [[Image:KATE ADIE - speaking from Tripoli tonight.JPG|thumb|280px|right|Still of the ''9 O'Clock News'' on 15 April 1986. The report can be viewed [http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/pressure/fla/libya_adie.html here]]]
-Tebbit’s most high profile attack on the BBC was in 1986 when he was Chairman of the [[Conservative Party]]. Tebbit attacked the BBC over its coverage of the US bombing of Libya that April, for which the Americans were controversially granted use of British air bases. Tebbit accusing the [[BBC]] of ‘uncritical carriage of Libyan propaganda’. Years later he wrote: ‘to tell the truth, I was probably as strident as I was partly because I had reservations (which I think were justified) about the Government process which led to our involvement, and some unease (which proved unjustified) about the policy itself.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> One Tebbit's most senior assistants at the time of the 1987 election later told the author and journalist Michael Cockerell that Tebbit's attacks were a deliberate and successful policy designed to cow the BBC into respectful reporting of the campaign. <ref>Michael Cockerell, 'Broadcasters caught in crossfire of politics', Manchester Guardian Weekly, 2 April 1995</ref>
 Tebbit’s attack was based on a document produced by Conservative Central Office, which he later described as a ‘factual dossier comparing news bulletin by news bulletin, line by line, the reports broadcast by [[BBC]] and [[ITN]].’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> The BBC's ''9 O'Clock News'' was contrasted with ITV’s ''News at Ten'', the former of which was said to be ‘riddled with inaccuracy, innuendo and imbalance’. <ref>The BBC Story – [http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/pressure/libyan.shtml The Libyan Bombing 1986] [Accessed 7 January 2009]</ref> It was claimed that:

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 ==Attacks on the BBC==
-Tebbit has a particular preoccupation with the media and especially the [[BBC]], which he regards as having a left-wing bias. In 2003 Tebbit wrote that the BBC, ‘is institutionally Labourist and badly needs counselling and retraining to understand what political neutrality entails.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> Tebbit has described the [[BBC]] as 'insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of that third- rate decade, the 1960s'. <ref>quoted in Louise Jury, [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bbc-row-elites-favourite-show-takes-the-flak-from-politicians-1288414.html BBC row: Elite's favourite show takes the flak from politicians], ''Independent'', 13 December 1997</ref>
+Tebbit has a particular preoccupation with the media and especially the [[BBC]], which he regards as having a left-wing bias. Tebbit has described the [[BBC]] as 'insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of that third- rate decade, the 1960s'. <ref>quoted in Louise Jury, [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bbc-row-elites-favourite-show-takes-the-flak-from-politicians-1288414.html BBC row: Elite's favourite show takes the flak from politicians], ''Independent'', 13 December 1997</ref> In 2003 he wrote that the BBC, ‘is institutionally Labourist and badly needs counselling and retraining to understand what political neutrality entails.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref>
-The BBC's coverage of the Falklands conflict in 1982 caused an angry reaction from Tebbit and other far right Tories. Tebbit recalled in his 1988 autobiography:
+Like other Tories, Tebbit was incensed with the BBC's coverage of the Falklands conflict in 1982. He recalled in his 1988 autobiography:
 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">[The] unctuous 'impartiality' of the BBC's editorialising was a source of grief and anger. Few of us concerned will ever forgive the phrase, 'The British authorities, if they are to be believed, say ...' or the regular references to British and Argentinian forces rather than 'our forces' and 'enemy forces'. The elaborate even-handedness jarred cruelly with those whose lives were at risk, those of us who took ultimate responsibility for committing our forces, knowing the human cost of what we had to do, and with the general public. ... For me the British Broadcasting Corporation might have better called itself the Stateless Persons Broadcasting Corporation for it certainly did not reflect the mood of the British people who finance it. <ref>Norman Tebbit, ''Upwardly Mobile'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988) p.196</ref></blockquote>

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 ==Attacks on the BBC==
 Tebbit has a particular preoccupation with the media and especially the [[BBC]], which he regards as having a left-wing bias. In 2003 Tebbit wrote that the BBC, ‘is institutionally Labourist and badly needs counselling and retraining to understand what political neutrality entails.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> Tebbit has described the [[BBC]] as 'insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of that third- rate decade, the 1960s'. <ref>quoted in Louise Jury, [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bbc-row-elites-favourite-show-takes-the-flak-from-politicians-1288414.html BBC row: Elite's favourite show takes the flak from politicians], ''Independent'', 13 December 1997</ref>
 Tebbit’s most high profile attack on the BBC was in 1986 when he was Chairman of the [[Conservative Party]]. Tebbit attacked the BBC over its coverage of the US bombing of Libya that April, for which the Americans were controversially granted use of British air bases. Tebbit accusing the [[BBC]] of ‘uncritical carriage of Libyan propaganda’. Years later he wrote: ‘to tell the truth, I was probably as strident as I was partly because I had reservations (which I think were justified) about the Government process which led to our involvement, and some unease (which proved unjustified) about the policy itself.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> One Tebbit's most senior assistants at the time of the 1987 election later told the author and journalist Michael Cockerell that Tebbit's attacks were a deliberate and successful policy designed to cow the BBC into respectful reporting of the campaign. <ref>Michael Cockerell, 'Broadcasters caught in crossfire of politics', Manchester Guardian Weekly, 2 April 1995</ref>

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 ==Attacks on the BBC==
 [[Image:KATE ADIE - speaking from Tripoli tonight.JPG|thumb|280px|right|Still of the ''9 O'Clock News'' on 15 April 1986. The report can be viewed [http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/pressure/fla/libya_adie.html here]]]
-Tebbit has a particular preoccupation with the media and especially the [[BBC]], which he regards as having a left-wing bias. In 2003 Tebbit wrote that the BBC, ‘is institutionally Labourist and badly needs counselling and retraining to understand what political neutrality entails.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref>
+Tebbit has a particular preoccupation with the media and especially the [[BBC]], which he regards as having a left-wing bias. In 2003 Tebbit wrote that the BBC, ‘is institutionally Labourist and badly needs counselling and retraining to understand what political neutrality entails.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> Tebbit has described the [[BBC]] as 'insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of that third- rate decade, the 1960s'. <ref>quoted in Louise Jury, [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bbc-row-elites-favourite-show-takes-the-flak-from-politicians-1288414.html BBC row: Elite's favourite show takes the flak from politicians], ''Independent'', 13 December 1997</ref>
-Tebbit’s most high profile attack on the BBC was in 1986 when he was Chairman of the [[Conservative Party]]. Tebbit attacked the BBC over its coverage of the US bombing of Libya that April, for which the Americans were controversially granted use of British air bases. Tebbit accusing the [[BBC]] of ‘uncritical carriage of Libyan propaganda’. Years later he wrote: ‘to tell the truth, I was probably as strident as I was partly because I had reservations (which I think were justified) about the Government process which led to our involvement, and some unease (which proved unjustified) about the policy itself.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref>
+Tebbit’s most high profile attack on the BBC was in 1986 when he was Chairman of the [[Conservative Party]]. Tebbit attacked the BBC over its coverage of the US bombing of Libya that April, for which the Americans were controversially granted use of British air bases. Tebbit accusing the [[BBC]] of ‘uncritical carriage of Libyan propaganda’. Years later he wrote: ‘to tell the truth, I was probably as strident as I was partly because I had reservations (which I think were justified) about the Government process which led to our involvement, and some unease (which proved unjustified) about the policy itself.’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> One Tebbit's most senior assistants at the time of the 1987 election later told the author and journalist Michael Cockerell that Tebbit's attacks were a deliberate and successful policy designed to cow the BBC into respectful reporting of the campaign. <ref>Michael Cockerell, 'Broadcasters caught in crossfire of politics', Manchester Guardian Weekly, 2 April 1995</ref>
 Tebbit’s attack was based on a document produced by Conservative Central Office, which he later described as a ‘factual dossier comparing news bulletin by news bulletin, line by line, the reports broadcast by [[BBC]] and [[ITN]].’ <ref>Norman Tebbit,  ‘[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/norman-tebbit-the-bbc-doesnt-invent-lies-against-the-government-542272.html The BBC doesn't invent lies against the Government]’, ''Independent'', 30 June 2003</ref> The BBC's ''9 O'Clock News'' was contrasted with ITV’s ''News at Ten'', the former of which was said to be ‘riddled with inaccuracy, innuendo and imbalance’. <ref>The BBC Story – [http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/pressure/libyan.shtml The Libyan Bombing 1986] [Accessed 7 January 2009]</ref> It was claimed that:

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 ==Biography==
-Tebbit worked as a journalist from 1947 to 1949 and then joined the RAF for two years before spending a period working in publishing and advertising (1951-53). From 1953 to 1970 he worked as an airline pilot before being elected as a Conservative MP. <ref>''Debrett's People of Today'', [http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/search/results/3889/Norman%20Beresford%20Tebbit%20TEBBIT.aspx The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC], [Accessed 5 January 2009]</ref> That year he joined the [[Conservative Monday Club]], <ref>Copping, Robert, ''The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade'' (London: Current Affairs Information Unit, April 1972) p.21</ref> a right-wing Tory association founded in the 1960s and notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation for non-white immigrants. <ref>Nicholas Watt, '[http://www.guardian.co.uk/racism/Story/0,,576935,00.html Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies]', ''The Guardian'', 19 October 2001</ref><ref>Marie Woolf '[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/five-more-names-go-in-purge-of-tory-right-667331.html Five more names go in purge of Tory right]', ''Independent'', 29 August 2001</ref>
+Tebbit worked as a journalist from 1947 to 1949 and then joined the RAF for two years before spending a period working in publishing and advertising (1951-53). From 1953 to 1970 he worked as an airline pilot. <ref>''Debrett's People of Today'', [http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/search/results/3889/Norman%20Beresford%20Tebbit%20TEBBIT.aspx The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC], [Accessed 5 January 2009]</ref>
 In the first [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] government Tebbit was appointed Under Secretary of State for Trade (1979-81) and then Minister of State for Industry (1981) before being appointed Secretary of State for Employment (1981-83) during the highest period of unemployment since the 1930s. <ref>BBC - On This Day 1950 - 2005 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm 1982: UK unemployment tops three million, 26 January 1982]</ref> He was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1985.

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 Tebbit worked as a journalist from 1947 to 1949 and then joined the RAF for two years before spending a period working in publishing and advertising (1951-53). From 1953 to 1970 he worked as an airline pilot before being elected as a Conservative MP. <ref>''Debrett's People of Today'', [http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/search/results/3889/Norman%20Beresford%20Tebbit%20TEBBIT.aspx The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC], [Accessed 5 January 2009]</ref> That year he joined the [[Conservative Monday Club]], <ref>Copping, Robert, ''The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade'' (London: Current Affairs Information Unit, April 1972) p.21</ref> a right-wing Tory association founded in the 1960s and notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation for non-white immigrants. <ref>Nicholas Watt, '[http://www.guardian.co.uk/racism/Story/0,,576935,00.html Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies]', ''The Guardian'', 19 October 2001</ref><ref>Marie Woolf '[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/five-more-names-go-in-purge-of-tory-right-667331.html Five more names go in purge of Tory right]', ''Independent'', 29 August 2001</ref>
-In the first [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] government Tebbit was appointed under sec of state for trade (1979-81) and then Minister of State for Industry (1981) before being appointed Secretary of State for Employment (1981-83) during the highest period of unemployment since the 1930s. <ref>BBC - On This Day 1950 - 2005 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm 1982: UK unemployment tops three million, 26 January 1982]</ref> He was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1985.
+In the first [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] government Tebbit was appointed Under Secretary of State for Trade (1979-81) and then Minister of State for Industry (1981) before being appointed Secretary of State for Employment (1981-83) during the highest period of unemployment since the 1930s. <ref>BBC - On This Day 1950 - 2005 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm 1982: UK unemployment tops three million, 26 January 1982]</ref> He was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1985.
 In 1984 Tebbit was elected a member of the [[Other Club]], a secretive dining society made up of powerful establishment figures from politics, business and to a lesser extent journalism and academia. <ref>John Lloyd. 'Secret members of the Other Club', ''The Times'', 29 July 1997; p.13</ref> The Home Secretary [[Leon Brittan]] was also elected a member that year. <ref>Ibid.</ref>

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 ==Affiliations==
-[[The Other Club]], member since 1984
+[[Conservative Monday Club]], elected member in 1970 <ref>Copping, Robert, ''The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade'' (London: Current Affairs Information Unit, April 1972) p.21</ref>
 ==Resources==