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Margaret Tebbit will enter The Grand hotel today for the first time in exactly 25 years – the day she was left paralysed by the Brighton bombing. She has lived each day since with pain and suffering, disabled after being crushed under tons of masonry which fell as the building was torn apart by the explosion on October 12, 1984. Lady Tebbit was the worst affected survivor of the most notorious episode in Brighton’s history, when the IRA carried out a plot designed to kill Britain’s Conservative cabinet while they stayed at the hotel during the party’s annual conference. She was sharing a room with husband Lord Tebbit, then Trade and Industry Secretary, who was among targets in a hit list headed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The bomb, which blew a huge hole in the landmark hotel, failed in its mission – the cabinet survived – but tragically five others did not and dozens more were injured. Many still suffer the effects now. Lord Tebbit lay partially buried in the rubble for seven hours before he was freed by rescuers. Lord and Lady Tebbit will make an emotional return to The Grand today as part of a special remembrance day. They will be joined by other survivors, members of hotel staff and emergency service workers who took part in a heroic rescue operation. Lord Tebbit said they would not feel any trepidation at the return. He said: “Margaret finds it difficult, naturally, she has suffered far more than I have. We are just glad we have had another 25 years together. I’m not troubled by the anniversary except by the sheer fact of my wife’s injuries.” The 20lb bomb exploded in room 629 on the sixth floor. It had been planted under a bath by IRA terrorist Patrick Magee 24 days earlier. Those killed were Jeanne Shattock, wife of Western Counties Conservative chairman Sir Gordon Shattock, Sir Anthony Berry, MP for Enfield Southgate, Roberta Wakeham, wife of Conservative chief whip John Wakeham, Eric Taylor, a member of the Conservative national executive committee and Muriel Maclean, wife of Tory Scottish President Donald Maclean, who died five weeks later. Today’s memorial has been arranged by Michael Knox-Johnston, general manager of The Grand. Invited guests will take part in a requiem mass at St Paul’s Church in West Street at 6pm before returning to the hotel for the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by Lord Tebbit.
