Norman Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Lord Tebbit of Chingford (born 29 March 1931) is a right-wing British politician. He was a key member of the second Thatcher government and was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1985 and chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1987. [1]
Career
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. [2]
In the first 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. [3] He was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1985. In 1985 he became Chairman of the Conservative Party and was also appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by Thatcher [4] – a position involving no official responsibilities but used to keep favoured figures in government.
Tebbit took up a number of corporate appointments after leaving politics. From 1987 to 1996 he was a director of the industrial conglomerate BET plc and the telecommunications group BT plc, which the Thathcer government had privitised. He was a director of the industrial conglomerate Sears plc until 1999 when it was acquired by Philip Green, and a director of the JCB subsidiary JCB Excavators Ltd from 1987 to 1991. [5]
From 1989 Tebbit took up a number of media positions. From 1989 to 2004 was a director of The Spectator (1828) Ltd, the publisher of the right-wing weekly The Spectator. He was a political commentator BSkyB from 1989 to 1997 and a columnist for The Sun from 1995 to 1997. [6] Both were controlled by the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch who had been supportive of Thatcher throughout the 1980s. He was columnist for the Mail on Sunday from 1997 to 2001. [7]
Resources
Glasgow University Media Group [On Norman Tebbit] 'Columnlist', The List, 14-27 November 1986
Notes
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
- ↑ BBC -On This Day 1950 - 2005 1982: UK unemployment tops three million, 26 January 1982
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, The Rt Hon Lord Tebbit, CH, PC, [Accessed 5 January 2009]
