LONDON -- Conservative politician Norman Tebbit, a key ally of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in her free-market transformation of Britain, has died at the age of 94, his family said Tuesday. Tebbit’s son William said he died peacefully at home late Monday. No cause was given.

Norman Tebbit was one of Margaret Thatcher's true believers and one of her most loyal allies. In a Conservative party full of old Etonians and toffs, he was also one of very few cabinet ministers from a working-class background.

He was a potential prime minister until he left high office to care for his wife, who was seriously hurt in a bombing by the Irish Republican Army.