Semi-house Trained Polecat

Lord Norman Tebbit was once described as a 'semi-house trained polecat' in the House of Commons, by the Labour leader Michael Foot, and he seems to be reverting to type, if this report on The Times is anything to go by.

Now I can understand Lord Tebbit remaining being bitter about an incident which nearly killed him and left his wife permanently disabled, and I can also understand why he would never forgive the people behind such violence.

But I think he should be ashamed of himself for encouraging, by appearing to enjoy, the prospect of someone assassinating the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, especially after the Good Friday Peace Agreement persuaded the men of violence to lay down their arms.

The fact that  someone like Norman Tebbit is able to influence the passage of laws in the UK while appearing to rejoice in the prospect of other people breaking the law by committing murder is yet more evidence that the House of Lords should be abolished because it should not be sued as a retirement home for politicians who are long past their sell-by date. 

Adams accuses Tebbit over ‘shot in the back’ jibe

Prince Andrew shows President Higgins and his wife Sabina the Colours of the Disbanded Irish Regiments at Windsor Castle Getty Images

By Lucy Bannerman - The Times

The Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has accused Lord Tebbit of publicly encouraging the assassination of a political leader, after he said he hoped that Martin McGuinness would be shot in the back for attending a banquet hosted by the Queen.

The former Conservative chairman had expressed disgust that a former commander of the terrrorist group behind the Brighton bomb that left his wife permanently disabled and killed his colleagues was being welcomed at Windsor Castle.

“There’s always the possibility,” he said, “that a member of the Real IRA will be so outraged by Mr McGuinness bowing to the Queen that they might shoot him in the back for it.

“We can but hope.”

His comments prompted an angry response from Mr Adams, who said it was unacceptable for a member of the House of the Lords to openly support the shooting of a democratically elected political leader. Mr McGuinness is now the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams said: “I fully understand that Norman Tebbit has himself been a victim of the political conflict and I regret that he has suffered grievously.

“However, to publicly advocate the assassination of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is a shocking throwback to a violent past from which we are seeking to move on.”

Mr Adams said that Mr McGuinness, his party colleague and a former IRA commander, has worked hard to ensure the success of the peace process at considerable risk to himself.

“Martin, his home and indeed his family have been targets for abuse and attack by so-called dissident republicans,” he said.

“To now have this type of activity encouraged by a member of the British House of Lords is unacceptable, and should be rejected by all right thinking people.

“Political leaders on both sides of the Irish Sea should reject the sentiments expressed by Mr Tebbitt.”

The outspoken peer was injured with his wife during the 1984 IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, which targeted Margaret Thatcher’s government during the Conservative party conference. Five people were killed, and 31 were injured.

The Irish President, Michael D Higgins, is currently on a four-day trip to the UK, making history as the first Irish head of state to receive full ceremonial welcome from Buckingham Palace.

But all eyes have been on Mr McGuinness as the former MP, who once refused to sit in the House of Commons because of the oath to the Queen and who snubbed her ground-breaking visit to Ireland in 2011, stood up during the National Anthem at the State Banquet on Tuesday evening and toasted the health and happiness of the monarch and the British people.

Responding to Lord Tebbit’s remarks, he said that they were “not fitting” for someone who holds high political office, and insisted that he had nothing to be ashamed about.

“I went to Windsor Castle last night as an unapologetic Irish republican, and I’m still an unapologetic Irish republican this morning,” he said.

“Obviously the sentiments that he has expressed, I think, are not fitting for someone in the elected position he has been in for a very long time.”

He insisted, however, that he would not be drawn into a row over the comments. “I’m not going to make an issue of it,” he said.

“Other people have certainly raised it with me, and some people have advocated that I should make an issue of it - I don’t intend to do so.”

Last night he was expected to attend another banquet, hosted by the Lord Mayor of London and the City of London Corporation at Guildhall - less than half a mile from the site of the IRA truck bomb that devastated Bishopsgate in 1993, killing one person and injuring 44. The Baltic Exchange, scene of another IRA bomb which killed three people, is also near by.

The event, which celebrates the business links between Ireland and the UK, marked the end of another busy day for the Irish President. On the second day of his state visit, Mr Higgins met Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, at City Hall, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, at Buckingham Palace.