Brighton bombing victim Lord Tebbit calls for BBC ban on Frankie Boyle after IRA joke

A Conservative politician who was injured in the 1984 Grand Hotel bombing in Brighton has hit out at a comedian for making a joke about the IRA on a BBC programme.
Lord TebbitLord Tebbit
Lord Tebbit

Lord Norman Tebbit and his wife Margaret were both injured in the attack, and five people were killed.

He called for the national broadcaster to ban Frankie Boyle after he made a joke about the IRA on his BBC Two show New World Order.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Scottish comedian, referring to Theresa May and her recent meeting at Chequers with Brexiteers, said ‘where are the IRA when you need them?’.

Lord Tebbit told the Belfast Telegraph: “The man should be banned from broadcasting on the BBC. What he said was highly offensive.

“IRA terrorist attacks are no laughing matter and the BBC shouldn’t have him on television.”

The Brighton hotel bombing took place on October 12, 1984, and was an assisnation attempt on the British Government by the IRA.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister at the time, was staying at the hotel alongside members of her cabinet during the Conservative Party conference.

After Lord Tebbit called for Mr Boyle to be banned, a BBC spokesman told a national newspaper, said: “Frankie Boyle’s New World Order was shown after 10pm on BBC Two and its content is within audience expectations for a post-watershed, topical, satirical programme from a comedian whose style and tone are well-established.

“Within the same programme Frankie clearly acknowledges the brutality of the IRA’s activities.”