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.

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.

Tributes have been paid to former cabinet minister Norman Tebbitt, who has died. Lord Tebbit, who lived in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was MP for Epping and then Chingford in Essex between 1970 and 1992 before joining the House of Lords.