In normal circumstances, Lord Tebbit’s intervention this morning – urging voters to punish the main parties for the expenses scandal at in the June 4 elections – would almost certainly be a disciplinary matter. But these are anything but normal circumstances, and David Cameron would be ill-advised to take action against the mighty Chingford Polecat.
Unlike many who have urged modernisation upon the Tory Party, I also have a very high regard for Tebbit. As one of the architects of the Thatcher revolution, he was responsible for the trade union reforms which enabled Britain to recover economically. As party chairman in 1987, he steered the Tories to a famous victory, and, had he not retired from the Cabinet thereafter to spend more time with his wife – paralysed in the Brighton bomb – he would have been a serious contender to succeed Margaret Thatcher.
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