The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-13937, in the name of Jackson Carlaw, on the 40th anniversary of the Brighton bomb blast. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the 40-year anniversary of the bombing at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, on 12 October 1984 during the annual Conservative Party Conference, where, it understands, five people were murdered and 34 others injured in the terrorist attack by the IRA; understands that the objective of the bombing was to assassinate members of the UK Government, including the Prime Minister; notes that people living in Eastwood and Scotland were in attendance at the conference and made use of the Grand Hotel; remembers that one of the five people who died was a Scot, and wife of Sir Donald Maclean, Muriel Maclean, who tragically passed away from her injuries five weeks after the bombing; believes that engaging in murderous terrorist activity to achieve political ends is completely unacceptable in all cases and must always be unreservedly condemned by everyone who cherishes democracy, and further believes that terrorist attacks to weaken systems of democracy must always fail and never be allowed to succeed.
17:31
I thank colleagues who chose to support my motion. There are some events that people are party to that they never forget. As somebody who was in Brighton the night that the bomb exploded, I can say that that is one for me. It is not something that I have talked about very much publicly, but, as I get older, I felt that now was perhaps the time to put on record my experience of that night and my reflections on what it meant for politics in this country, all the way through to Jo Cox, David Amess and colleagues in the chamber who, I know, have been subject to—not always publicly but privately—real harassment and concern.
I will start 10 years before the events of 1984, as it is important to put into context the troubles in Northern Ireland, which underpinned all the difficulties in the United Kingdom at that time. In 1974, a bomb blew up in the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford. The 50th anniversary of that event took place last weekend. Among the victims that night were two Scots Guards—two young boys aged 17 and 18 who lived in Barrhead in East Renfrewshire. They lived in the same street, at number 18 and number 11. They had been in the Boys Brigade together. They had been in the same school football team. They had worked in Armitage Shanks together. They had a joint funeral, and they lie together in the cemetery adjacent to each other to this day.
With people serving in the armed forces, the troubles of that era came very close to home in many communities in Scotland. However, for two young boys, hardly out of school, who had joined the army, to be cut down in that way had a great effect on my local community.
Ten years later, I was at my sixth party conference. All of us here will have been at our respective party conferences. They were very open affairs at that time. Yes, there was a certain amount of policing, but that was more to marshal demonstrators. The policing was not in any sense concerned that there was a genuine threat to life.
On that day—12 October 1984, which will be commemorated this Saturday—I was in the bar of the Grand hotel until about 1 o’clock. I then went back to my digs with other people. In a way that I have never been properly able to explain, I woke up suddenly with a deep-seated sense of unease that something was not right. I could not put my finger on what that was; I just felt it. I said to the people with whom we were sharing accommodation, “Look, something’s not right. Let’s get up and go and see.” We did that.
We were 100 yards away from the Grand hotel. We walked round and there was an extraordinary sight before us. The only parallel that I could think of at the time was the disaster at Clarkston that had taken place in the early 1970s, when a landmark that we were familiar with was suddenly ripped apart in front of us. There it was: the Grand hotel, with a gaping slash down it.
We did what we could. We brought deck chairs up from the beach to let people who were staggering out, covered in soot and dust, sit down. However, in due course, we realised that that was really as much as we could do, and the emergency services had to be left to get on with things.
We knew that the Prime Minister had survived but, in an age before digital communications, it was difficult to know anything else whatsoever. However, what we understood was that there had been an attempt to wipe out the democratically elected Government of the United Kingdom. It did not matter which political party people were in or whether they were fans of Margaret Thatcher—let us face it: not many political parties were fans of hers—they all stood together and understood at that moment that this was an act of terror the like of which we had not seen in the country before and that, had it been successful, it would have had profound implications. Indeed, even though it was unsuccessful, it had profound implications.
The bomb was behind the bath panel in room 629, which was occupied by my friend Donald Maclean—the president of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Association—and his wife, Muriel. I had seen Muriel just two nights before, when she hosted the Scottish reception—I remember her still, with the Maclean sash. She was a lovely woman.
They were catapulted six floors down. Muriel died a few weeks later from the injuries that she sustained, along with four other people. Donald was horribly scarred. For the rest of his life, he carried the injuries that he suffered that night with tremendous fortitude and courage.
I remember the sense of leadership, irrespective of politics, that the Prime Minister showed the following day. I remember journalists saying to me, “She put the spine back into us, as well.” Everybody was shaken by the enormity of that event.
The bombing led to a change in our politics. Before then, we could go to party conferences and mix and mingle with politicians without there being any real security. However, from that moment onwards—as I saw in the conferences that I attended afterwards—a curtain came down on the way that politicians at the most senior level could engage with people. Over the years since, that has come to affect all of us, too.
Jo Cox was cut down in 2016 and David Amess was cut down a few years later, and I know that there are colleagues in this chamber whose constituency offices have been attacked as they have gone about their daily business. Last week, a woman attacked my office—she attacked the staff in the shared services area of the building. She was arrested by the police, was on remand for three nights and has been charged. These things visit all of us and have changed the colour and character of politics. They have made us all aware of something that we never thought that we would ever have to be aware of. That is the long shadow that has carried forward from that night in Brighton all those years ago.
There is one positive thing that I remember. On the 25th anniversary of the bomb, the fireman who had dug Donald Maclean out of the rubble contacted me and asked whether I could put him in touch with Donald, whom he had not met since that night. They were able to meet, and I think that it meant a great deal to Donald, who passed away the following year. Humanity finds its way through, even in the most awful of circumstances and tragedies. That is what I choose to think and celebrate.
That night gave me a determination that terrorism must never be allowed to succeed. That does not mean that we cannot confront the giant issues that trouble us. However, when it comes down to it, we have to stand together as politicians and recognise that democracy is a fragile thing and that it will succeed only if we stand together, work together and are resolute.
17:40
Before I start, I pay tribute to Jackson Carlaw for his powerful speech, in which he talked about his recollection of those times.
Although there are many differences among members of all parties here, I am completely confident in saying that we are united in our belief that democracy and our politics should be peaceful. This weekend will mark the 40th anniversary of an attempt to disrupt our democratic system and inject political violence and terrorism into our civic lives. Disagreement and debate are part of a healthy democracy; planting bombs in hotels in order to target political leaders is not.
The five individuals who lost their lives that night were Anthony Berry MP; Jeanne Shattock; Muriel Maclean, who was mentioned earlier in the debate; Eric Taylor; and Roberta Wakeham. Although it is right that we remember those who died, as Jackson Carlaw said, we must also remember those who were injured—most famously, Margaret Tebbit, the wife of Norman, who spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair, but also the more than 30 others who were treated for various injuries as a result of the blast. So many lives were affected by that grotesque attempt to disrupt our political system.
It is only fair that we pay special tribute to the members of Sussex Police and East Sussex Fire Brigade who were the first on the scene. Their heroic actions saved many lives, as did the work of all emergency service workers who were present that night.
I commend the resilience that those who experienced the attack, including Jackson Carlaw, displayed by continuing the party conference merely hours after it had taken place. Garret FitzGerald, the Irish Prime Minister at the time, summed up the attack as
“a gross miscalculation of the character of the British people and the nature of British democracy.”
It is important to underline that the attack cannot be seen as a reflection on the Irish community in the UK. Such attacks can often increase intercommunity tensions. Inflammatory articles such as one in the Sunday Express that asked
“Wouldn’t you rather admit to being a pig than to being Irish?”
did nothing to mend relations and acknowledge that the Irish Republican Army’s actions horrified the majority of the Irish community. The IRA does not represent the views of the Irish community any more than any terrorist group represents the views of other people. That is important to me, as the member for the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency, which has a large Irish community that has often faced discrimination over the years. I know that the Irish community in Coatbridge at that time completely condemned the horrific attack.
In considering the legacy of the attack, we must realise that, today, many people across Scotland and, indeed, the wider UK will be too young to recall the political violence associated with Northern Ireland during the troubles. We cannot take for granted the fact that more and more generations have not had to live through those violent times.
On that October night 40 years ago, few would have believed that, within 15 years, an extensive peace process would have led to the ground-breaking terms of the Good Friday agreement. That mammoth agreement required mutual trust, co-operation and a sincere belief in renouncing violence and investing in a better future for all. There are lessons that we can learn from that today. It is understandable that people look at the situations unfolding in the middle east, Ukraine and Sudan and think that there is no hope—we all feel that sometimes—but history has shown that, with determined efforts, peace can be achieved. That has held true in Northern Ireland, as well as in other regions that have seen years of political violence, such as Colombia and South Africa.
I close by once again unequivocally condemning the attack, asserting that violence has no place in our democratic system and agreeing with the sentiments of Jackson Carlaw, and all colleagues who will speak tonight, in expressing our condolences for those who were affected, injured or killed 40 years ago.
17:44
I thank Jackson Carlaw for speaking about a personal event that, I think, shook us all in 1984. For me, it was the culmination of a long line of IRA atrocities that, as he said, were euphemistically known as the troubles, but it was more than that.
We need to remember that, in the build-up to that event, for the IRA, terrorism was the threat of action designed to influence the Government by intimidating the public, and that is what happened on that day. I had experienced that two years and three months earlier, when my regiment experienced the Hyde park bombing.
I will give a reminder to those members who do not know about that event. A bomb was made by Danny McNamee and planted in a blue Morris Marina on the south carriageway of Hyde park. John Downey sat on a bench about 300m from where the car was parked and waited until the horses rode past—waiting for the most opportune moment to explode it, killing Anthony Daly, Roy Bright, Jeffrey Young and Simon Tipper, as well as seven horses. I am not sure what possessed him to think that blowing up people in ceremonial armour was ever going to take his argument further forward. It was a calculated decision, in the same way as the Brighton bombing was a calculated decision, with the bomb planted much earlier and planned to go off in the middle of the night to cause maximum devastation.
Patrick Magee, who planted the Brighton bomb, said afterwards, when he had talked to the families, that, having listened to them, he could never do it again. I think that that is a message for all terrorists: you will never achieve what you want to do by intimidating the public—listen to those people who tried, and please do not ever do it again. That is my message: it is not right to attack unarmed people and try to subvert democracy, especially in the United Kingdom.
17:47
I am honoured to speak today in support of my colleague Jackson Carlaw’s motion on the Brighton bombing—[Interruption.]
Can we have Mr Eagle’s microphone, please?
Sorry, Presiding Officer—my bad. I am not prepared today, am I?
Although I have very few memories of the bombing myself, as I was only four at the time, I have many friends and family members who live in the south-east of England, and I remember visiting Brighton as a child. While my pre-school mind was, I am sure, fixated on the doughnuts and rides of Brighton pier, I can recall my grandparents speaking about and pointing at the hotel every time that we passed it.
It is amazing how, when I heard that Jackson Carlaw had lodged the motion for debate, the feelings, thoughts and memories of my parents and my grandparents talking about that event in the past came rushing back to me. We should never forget that such events, including the many others that, sadly, we have seen in the UK, leave lasting memories, injuries and suffering.
As other members have mentioned, 34 people were injured in the terrorist attack by the IRA, and many were left with life-changing injuries. That included Lord and Lady Tebbit, who have been mentioned already. Lady Tebbit was in hospital for two years following the bomb, and her injuries meant that she was severely paralysed for the rest of her life. Lord Tebbit recovered in hospital for three months and subsequently gave up his parliamentary seat in 1992 to care for his wife.
Lady Tebbit was remarkable. When she was recording “Desert Island Discs” with Sue Lawley in 1995, she said that she did not “blame people”, remarking,
“I don’t completely forget or forgive, but one has to completely look forward.”
She described how, recovering in the spinal unit, she felt lucky, as there were always people who were so much worse off than her, and that at least she was 50, and she was so grateful that she could still simply communicate. Sue Lawley said that Lady Tebbit
“shows no trace of bitterness, simply an acute eye for the needs of those who, like her, become the victims of sudden terrible injuries.”
Lady Tebbit died in 2020, and Lord Tebbit is now 93; I pay tribute to them both.
While preparing for the debate and re-reading the details of the immediate aftermath of the bomb in the Grand hotel, I was shocked to learn just how close the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, had been to being injured or killed herself in the blast. It is extraordinary that the Prime Minister, her husband and her private secretary were unhurt, and it is equally extraordinary—as Jackson Carlaw said—that the conference went ahead as planned that day. As the Prime Minister said in her conference speech that afternoon,
“The fact that we are gathered here, now—shocked but composed and determined—is a sign not only that this attack has failed but that all attempts to destroy democracy will fail.”
What is equally extraordinary is that the Prime Minister continued with the on-going talks with the Irish Government, as she must have been deeply and personally impacted by the attacks, deaths and injuries.
I whole-heartedly support my colleague Jackson Carlaw’s belief, as set out in his motion,
“that engaging in murderous terrorist activity to achieve political ends is completely unacceptable ... and ... that terrorist attacks to weaken systems of democracy must always fail and never be allowed to succeed.”
I will, therefore, quote the powerful and eloquent response to the Brighton bomb attack that Labour MP Gerald Kaufman gave in the House of Commons. He said:
“Let us be quite clear about what happened at the Grand hotel in Brighton on 12 October. This was no random act of violence. It cannot be compared, and it should not be compared, with any other act of violence, great or small, that takes place within our society. This was a deliberate attempt to destroy a Government by mass murder. Yes, that Government are a Conservative Government with whom we have the most serious differences, but they are a democratically elected Government. They are the British Government. Let it be said in the plainest terms that the only way that we get rid of a Government in Britain is by the ballot box. Terrorism and assassination have no place whatever in the political process in this country. We utterly and unanimously reject them and we shall fight with every fibre of our being against them.”—[Official Report, House of Commons, 22 October 1984; Vol 65, c 441.]
I thank my colleague Jackson Carlaw for bringing this important debate, and his powerful message, to the chamber today.
17:51
I begin by respectfully acknowledging Jackson Carlaw’s bringing the motion to Parliament for debate. For him, and for Conservative colleagues, I appreciate that it is a very emotive subject, given not only the personal connections that many had to the victims of the bombing, but their long-standing connections to the families of those victims and to those who survived that terrible night.
We debate the anniversary as the current party conference season has just concluded. It has caused me to reflect, having attended my own party’s gathering in Liverpool just weeks ago, on the magnitude and the horror of what happened 40 years ago in Brighton. That has been recounted by Jackson Carlaw this evening in a very personal and powerful way, and I commend him for his speech.
I often reflect that political parties become something like an extended family—the good, the bad and the in-between—and it is hard to imagine those whom we come to care about so deeply being killed or harmed in such circumstances. Party conferences are part of the lifeblood of our democratic traditions, so when terrorism strikes at the heart of our democracy in such a direct way and claims innocent lives, it must be condemned. I think that, this evening, we stand united across the chamber in that condemnation.
Many members in the chamber will know that the troubles in Northern Ireland and the long road to peace are very personal to me and to my family. Tonight, we remember victims of that conflict: the thousands who were killed across these islands, many of whom were just innocent bystanders living their everyday lives.
Every corner was touched by those dark days: my own family in County Derry and County Tyrone, and the soldiers whose names are etched on the war memorials in towns and villages such as the one that I live in today. I join Jackson Carlaw in reflecting on the other anniversary that we have commemorated in the past week: the 50th anniversary of when John Hunter and Billy Forsyth from Barrhead were killed in the Guildford bombings, aged just 17 and 18. They were on their first deployment in the Army—just young, innocent men who were on a night out. There was, of course, the pain of the miscarriages of justice and the search for answers that followed. It is important to reflect on the pain that is caused—that pain is unimaginable, and I know that so many people still carry it today.
Decades ago, it was unimaginable that an end to the darkness was possible, but today the light of peace shines across Northern Ireland. There are—as we heard from other members—adults in their mid-20s who have known nothing else. Peace can be fragile, and it can be confusing. It requires compromises that can feel impossible to make, but for those young people, it must endure and succeed.
Tonight, we in the chamber should remember those people who made it possible. We should remember the forbearance of John Hume; the groundwork that was laid by John Major in the most difficult of circumstances; and the empathy of Mo Mowlam in delivering the Good Friday agreement.
The next step on that journey is reconciliation. Again, that is a hard road to embark on, and it is difficult for many to contemplate. However, I am sure that many will also agree that the examples that have been set in the work of people such as Jo Berry—the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry, who died in the blast—and Pat Magee, who planted the bomb, are an important starting point.
I leave the chamber with the words of the late Queen, on her historic visit to Ireland:
“These events have touched us all, many of us personally, and are a painful legacy. We can never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families. To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy.
With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all. But it is also true that no-one who looked to the future over the past centuries could have imagined the strength of the bonds that are now in place between the Governments and the people of our two nations, the spirit of partnership that we now enjoy, and the lasting rapport between us.”
I express my condolences to those still living in pain and with loss, and I offer my hope for an on-going commitment to peace, democracy and reconciliation across these islands.
17:56
I commend my friend Jackson Carlaw for securing the debate on what is a very important anniversary, and I congratulate him on his moving contribution. Indeed, all members who have spoken have made very fine contributions.
Unlike Jackson Carlaw, I was not present at the Grand hotel in 1984. At that stage, I was far too young to be allowed out on my own, and I was not even a member of the Conservative Party. However, I remember that date well. I still remember the television pictures that were broadcast of the events of that night, including the anguished face of a pyjama-clad Norman Tebbit, who was carried on a stretcher from the ruins. As we have heard, Margaret Tebbit suffered more than he did. She fell through four floors and ended up paralysed from the chest down, having to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair—which probably contributed to a premature end to Norman Tebbit’s political career, although I am pleased to say that he is still with us.
As we have heard, five individuals died that night: Sir Anthony Berry, Roberta Wakeham, Eric Taylor, Lady Shattock—who was decapitated instantly following the blast—and Muriel Maclean, whom Jackson Carlaw had the privilege of knowing and who was the wife of Donald Maclean. I never met Muriel Maclean, but I met Sir Donald, as he became, on a number of subsequent occasions.
The target of the attack was the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. She survived, but it was a close-run thing, because the bathroom of the room that she shared with Denis Thatcher was destroyed. Had she been in the bathroom at the time of the blast, she would almost certainly have been badly injured, if not killed—which was, of course, the intention of the IRA bombers. It was an extremely close-run thing.
The following morning, Margaret Thatcher attended the Conservative Party conference and received an instant standing ovation. She made a very brave and famous speech that afternoon, concluding
“all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.”
A person does not need to be a fan of Margaret Thatcher or even a Conservative to agree with that sentiment.
There is perhaps a certain symmetry to the fact that we are holding a debate to recognise that anniversary just a couple of days after the first anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas—Israel being the only fully functioning democracy in the middle east. However, whatever the terrorist organisation—the IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah or any other—we should be very clear that terrorism must always be confronted and must not be allowed to succeed. As we reflect on the memory and sacrifice of those who were killed in the Brighton bombing 40 years ago, we should all hold fast to that principle and resolve that democracy must prevail.
17:59
I thank my colleague Jackson Carlaw for bringing this debate to Parliament and for his moving personal recollection.
I remember well the bombing, and recall the sight of Norman Tebbit, grey with dust, being carried out on a stretcher. It is an image that those of us who were around at the time cannot erase. It symbolised the horror of that day.
I had, and have, little regard for Margaret Thatcher as a political leader. Her bombastic approach to politics at a domestic and international level was confrontational by choice and often destructive, but I was horrified by the bomb attack that was directed at her, which killed others and injured many.
Like Jackson Carlaw, I will put that time into context. I recall when the troubles resurfaced in Northern Ireland as I had just married and moved to Galloway. It was 1969. I recall when the British troops went into Northern Ireland. At first, they were offered cups of tea, but that soon turned to resentment from half of the Belfast population. Even then, I wondered how the troops would leave and when. Moving in was the easy part; not having an exit strategy is a continuing error of successive UK Governments. I recall farming families relocating to Galloway from the Irish border to remove themselves from the firing line, saddened that neighbour could no longer trust neighbour. Catholics and Protestants who had lived side by side were now taking sides.
The decades came and went. We received Ulster Television at the time. Almost every night, there were announcements of incendiary devices, often on the Armagh Road. I was perhaps more aware of the realities of the divisions in Northern Ireland than people in other parts of the UK. In March 1979, Airey Neave, the then shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army in a car bomb attack in the Palace of Westminster car park. He was a friend and political mentor to Margaret Thatcher.
On 27 August 1979, less than four months after Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten was killed by a bomb on his fishing boat off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in the Irish Republic. The Provisional Irish Republican Army—the IRA—had planted the device. On the same day, the IRA also killed 18 British soldiers near Warrenpoint with two bombs, which was the highest loss of life suffered in a single incident by the British Army during the troubles. Northern Ireland was a war zone. Extremism thrived.
In March 1981, Bobby Sands, an IRA member, who was imprisoned at Maze prison in Northern Ireland, went on a hunger strike for the return of special category status to prisoners, which would have given those prisoners the status of political prisoners rather than criminals. That included their not having to wear a prison uniform and being able to freely associate with other prisoners. While on hunger strike, Bobby Sands stood in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election and won. At that time, Margaret Thatcher said:
“There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime: it is not political, it is crime, and there can be no question of granting political status.”
Ten men died of starvation before the strike came to an end. Sands was the first to die, which he did on 5 May 1981, after 66 days of starvation. His death led to rioting in Republican areas of Northern Ireland.
I refer to those events not to make value judgments but to place the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet in the context of that dreadful time. That said, there were wrongs and cruelties on all sides and an abject failure of politics, which, as ever, even today in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, mean death and injury, with ordinary people caught in the middle.
In the end, as in Ireland, after all the bloodshed, comes compromise and a political solution—in this instance, it was the Good Friday agreement. That is why, as politicians, while we deplore the use of the bullet rather than the ballot box, we must ensure that engagement with democracy does not falter through our actions or, perhaps even more crucially, our inaction.
That said, we must, without fear or favour, condemn violence whenever, but in today’s context, we must condemn that directed towards politicians, whether we agree with their views or not—indeed, more so if we disagree. If the assassination of Margaret Thatcher had succeeded, it would not, in my view, have resolved the troubles, but it would have succeeded in undermining our democracy.
As others have said, today, politicians here operate in a culture in which they are seen by some as fair game, even to the point of threats, violence and worse. The events of that early morning in Brighton remind us that democracy is vulnerable, fragile and has its dangers, but those are far outweighed by its freedoms, which we must all always protect.
I thank Jackson Carlaw for this debate and for reminding me of those difficult days and of how far Northern Ireland has come. If—it is an if—it is to be a united Ireland, it will be achieved through the ballot box, not by bomb or bullet.
18:05
I thank Jackson Carlaw for a powerful and memorable speech—probably the best speech that I have ever heard delivered in the chamber as a member.
I have been a member of the Conservative Party since I was 15. You develop a strange emotional attachment to the party to which you have belonged for nearly 50 years. In and out of government, our party has had its finest and not-so-fine moments, but that is politics. What happened in the early hours of 12 October 1984 was not politics; it was the attempted mass murder of ordinary members of the Conservative Party and a terrorist attack aimed at killing the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. It was a shocking assault on people—people like us; people like those of us who attended the Conservative Party conference last week in Birmingham.
I was not at the 1984 conference. My first Conservative Party conference was in 1977, but I was not at the 1984 conference because Yvonne and I were new parents and I was still a student at the University of Stirling. That morning, we watched breakfast TV, transfixed at the horror that was before us. In 1984, breakfast TV was still a new thing. They were on air, providing us with live pictures of the rescue of the survivors from the bombed building.
As has been said, the front of the Grand hotel had been blown completely away, and we watched on television, among the ruins, as has been referenced, Norman Tebbit being carefully extracted from the wreckage. Fred Bishop, the fire station officer on duty that night, was handling the slow descent of Norman Tebbit’s stretcher. Famously, Norman Tebbit cried out at one point, “Get off my bloody feet, Fred”, but Fred Bishop, a man of uncommon character, in the middle of all of that, chatted with Tebbit about flying. Tebbit had been a pilot and an official of the British Airline Pilots Association. As Fred and others tried to bring Tebbit down the floors of the hotel, there was an imminent risk of collapse. Tebbit was not told and did not know how gravely his wife had been injured.
We already knew—particularly those of us who were active Conservatives—about Margaret Thatcher’s formidable courage and conviction. I believe that she is a historic figure for all times. She was asked live on TV by the BBC political editor John Cole whether the conference would go ahead. She swivelled around, and facing John Cole, she spoke slowly and deliberately and said,
“The conference will go on”.
As if to make her point, she repeated it:
“John, the conference will go on, as usual”.
There have already been references in the debate to what she said later that day in her conference speech. The wreckage of the nearby Grand hotel was still smouldering, and the dead and injured were still being identified and tended to. I conclude with an extended quote from what she said:
“The bomb attack on the Grand Hotel early this morning was, first and foremost, an inhuman, undiscriminating attempt to massacre innocent, unsuspecting men and women staying in Brighton for our Conservative conference. Our first thoughts must, at once, be for those who died and for those who are now in hospital, recovering from their injuries.
But the bomb attack clearly signified more than this. It was an attempt not only to disrupt and terminate our conference; it was an attempt to cripple Her Majesty’s democratically elected Government. That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact that we are gathered here now, shocked but composed and determined, is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.”
The lesson of Brighton to those of evil intent, who trade in horror and the work of death for their own ends, can be simply put: all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. Our resolve to that end must remain.
18:10
I express my gratitude to Jackson Carlaw for bringing a motion for debate in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the bombing at the Grand hotel in Brighton on 12 October 1984. I commend him for speaking about an event that, for most of us, is a profoundly important public one. The manner in which he addressed us reminds us that, for many people, it is not only a public event but a profoundly and deeply personal one. I was very moved by his contribution.
It is hard to find words that are adequate to respond to the enormity of the circumstances and to the awful senselessness of the violence of that event on 12 October 1984. Nonetheless, we have an opportunity to place on record our collective condolences to the families of all those who were killed, injured and affected by the bombing, which was one of the most significant attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in mainland Britain.
I cannot begin to imagine—I hope never to have to imagine—the depth of the loss for those impacted by such sudden violence. Using violence to achieve political ends, no matter what those might be, is intolerable in any free society and it is right that we mark this anniversary.
Sadly, that was not the only incident in these islands in the past 40 years in which violence was inflicted on those involved in the political process. We are grateful that, during the period known as the troubles, which had its own impact here in Scotland, a fragile peace was struck in Northern Ireland following the 1998 Good Friday agreement and are further grateful that that peace holds to this day.
Today’s debate allows us to recognise and remember other politicians who have lost their lives while carrying out their public duties and listening to and representing the people they were elected to serve, which is the honour and sacred duty at the heart of our democracy. Ian Gow MP was killed by a bomb placed under his car, outside his home, on 30 July 1990. Jo Cox MP was shot, stabbed and killed as she was about to hold her constituency surgery on 16 June 2016. Sir David Amess MP was stabbed and killed while holding a surgery on 15 October 2021.
As a means of honouring those who have lost their lives, it is essential that we do not allow acts of terrorism—whatever end they may be motivated by—to succeed in undermining democracy. Terrorism can never be accepted, and we must challenge it together, using methods that do not compromise our respect for the rule of law and for human rights.
Sadly, there are still threats to elected members as they go about their democratic duties at both local and national level. We know that that happens to some of us here. Jackson Carlaw mentioned a horrible recent event and I say to him that I am sorry that he experienced that. We know that such things have happened to others here, too. Such threats cannot be tolerated.
Even when such actions do not breach the criminal threshold, they can still represent a direct challenge to the democratic process, so they must be vigorously opposed at every turn. We must protect our democratic processes. The Government has systems in place that seek to ensure the integrity of elections as well as the personal safety of elected members at the national and local level.
National and local elections remain safe and secure, with robust processes in place that bring together Government departments, devolved Administrations, local government, the intelligence community and wider operational partners. During the recent election, all candidates were able to access comprehensive election security guidance that brought together expertise from across the security community, including the police, the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre and others, to help them to implement quick and effective personal protective security measures. Candidates were also able to access protective security awareness under operation Bridger, with Police Scotland supporting any additional sessions for Scottish candidates where required.
Although the threat towards candidates is often heightened during election periods, it does not dissipate once they are elected. We must remain vigilant as we represent our constituencies and promote our political campaigns. I therefore encourage every member to familiarise themselves with the available protective security resources, both for individuals and political parties.
Any democratic society must be able to operate on the basis of being able to exchange and debate divergent points vigorously, without rancour, and always free from subversion by illegitimate means. It is our collective responsibility as elected representatives and democrats to ensure that we strive to that end.
I conclude by thanking Jackson Carlaw again for the motion and allowing us to respectfully mark the 40th anniversary of the Brighton bombing, to allow us to convey our sympathy and condolences to those who were directly impacted and, more widely, to enable us to reassert that political intimidation, violence and abuse have no place in our society.
Meeting closed at 18:17.Previous
Decision Time