Following the Brighton hotel bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the editorial board of "London Labour Briefing" said the bombings showed that "the British only sit up and take notice [of Ireland] when they are bombed into it". In December 1984, the magazine carried a reader's letter praising the "audacity" of the IRA attack and stating: "What do you call four dead Tories? A start." It mocked Norman Tebbit, the trade secretary who was dug out of the rubble of the Grand Hotel and whose wife was left permanently paralysed, saying: "Try riding your bike now, Norman" (in reference to an earlier speech made by Tebbit). The same issue carried a piece from the editorial board which "disassociated itself" from an article the previous month criticising the bombing, saying the criticism was a "serious political misjudgment".