Mourners will gather for the funeral of Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Norman Tebbit at the cathedral in the town where he lived.
The Conservative grandee, who was one of Margaret Thatcher’s closest political allies, died on July 7, aged 94.
His life will be remembered during a service at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds on Thursday.
Lord Tebbit was injured in an IRA bombing during the Conservative Party conference in Brighton in 1984, which left his wife, Margaret, paralysed from the neck down.
He served as employment secretary, taking on the trade unions, and as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1987 he helped Thatcher secure her third general election victory.
He also served as trade secretary and had a reputation as a political bruiser. After the 1987 election success he left his post as Tory chairman to help care for Margaret, who died in 2020.
Lord Tebbit left the Commons in 1992 and became a member of the House of Lords.
His son William said his father died “peacefully at home”.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith is due to give a reading at Thursday’s funeral service, with the eulogy to be delivered by Tory peer and author Lord Michael Dobbs.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Lord Tebbit was an “icon in British politics”, adding that his death would cause “sadness across the political spectrum”.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson described him as “a hero of modern Conservatism” and “great patriot” whose values were needed “today more than ever”.
Lord Tebbit’s family have asked that any donations go to St Nicholas Hospice and the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity.
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