Tory grandees bid farewell to Norman Tebbit

TORY great Norman Tebbit will be remembered as an "inspiring leader", mourners at his funeral were told.

- By Jonathan Walker Whitehall Editor

They were saying farewell to one of the giants of British politics as Lord Tebbit was laid to rest after his death three weeks ago.

The service, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, was attended by politicians including former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, ex-MP and novelist Jeffrey Archer and Sir Jacob Rees Mogg.

Tory peer and novelist Lord Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, gave the eulogy and described Lord Tebbit as "a giant, an inspiring leader" while Sir Iain gave a reading from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Lord Tebbit was one of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies and played a key role in the Tory government that reshaped Britain in the 1980s. He died at home on July 7, aged 94.