The wife of former trade secretary Norman Tebbit has been speaking of her years of struggle after being left paralysed by the Grand Hotel bombing.

Lady Tebbit ended up in a wheelchair following the attack by the IRA in 1984.

She plummeted four floors and had her spine crushed by the weight of falling rubble.

Lady Tebbit, 75, recently returned to the scene of the bombing in Brighton with her husband to mark the 25th anniversary.

In an interview with a national newspaper, Lady Tebbit said her priority each day was the battle to use what strength she has to do as much as she can.

She refuses to speak about bomber Patrick Magee and his subsequent release under the Good Friday Agreement.

Lady Tebbit said she had been going through 25 years of adjustment and had good days and bad days.

She told the paper: “With an injury like this, once the drama is over, it is the small things that make the difference – the days when I can hold the telephone myself, whether my thumb has the strength to guide the wheelchair, These are the things that matter to me now.”