But Lord Tebbit told ITV presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid his views were not skewed by his personal experiences of the attack.

He explained that he had visited Northern Ireland a number of times prior to the IRA bombing while working as private secretary to Robin Chichester-Clark, the MP for Londonderry.

"It's not merely these creatures [the Brighton bombers] crippled my wife, but they also murdered five of my friends. I only hope that his death will help to bring some sort of closure to those families and friends of whose murder he's accomplished," he told Good Morning Britain.

Discussing the peace process that Mr McGuinness was instrumental to, Lord Tebbit said: "You might just as well say that if Himmler had succeeded Hitler and wiped out the Jews it would have removed the problem and there could have been peace in Europe."

He added: "He was a coward". Lord Tebbit also said he believed Mr McGuinness' transformation to "a man of peace" was because he feared being arrested and charged with a "number of murders which he had personally committed".