The hotel chimney collapsed through the middle of the building

The then-prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her cabinet were staying at the Grand Hotel for the 1984 Conservative Party conference, when the IRA bombed it.

Mrs Thatcher escaped uninjured, but the blast killed five people and injured 34 others.

In 1986, Patrick Magee was convicted of murder and received eight life sentences, with the recommendation that he serve a minimum of 35 years.

MP was victim

On Tuesday, Magee addressed an audience of about 60 people at St Nicholas Church in the city, half a mile from the Grand Hotel.

He also spoke to Jo Berry, daughter of Enfield Southgate MP Sir Anthony, who died in the blast.

The pair have been in contact since 1999 when Magee was released from his life sentence under the Good Friday Agreement.

They joined forces to establish Causeway, an organisation which aims to help people address unresolved pain and grief caused by the Northern Ireland conflict.

Among those injured in the Grand Hotel bombing was Lord Tebbit's wife Margaret, who was left paralysed for life.

Lord Tebbit said on Tuesday that Magee was no better than those who murdered British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq.

'Psychopathic'

"As far as Magee is concerned, I would put him in the same category as the people who recently murdered Mr Bigley and those who just two years ago today murdered large numbers of people in Bali - psychopathic killers who would kill again if they had the chance," he said.

Magee was released under the Good Friday Agreement

Lord Tebbit said Magee did not have any regrets about what he did and never served an adequate sentence for his crime.

"Probably some people would like to negotiate with the people who murdered Mr Bigley and see them given the same treatment as given by Mr Magee. I find that offensive and counter-productive," he said.

He said his wife had received a life sentence in a wheelchair, a sentence from which she had never received a reprieve.

Lord Tebbit said that he was not impressed with Sinn Fein's involvement in the peace process, and questioned the IRA's commitment to peace.

"We know that Sinn Fein/IRA are still ready, if they were frustrated in their programme, to return to violence," he told BBC Northern Ireland.

"That is why they are refusing to give up their guns and their bombs, and that is why they are maintaining a private army alongside an allegedly democratic political party.

Lord Tebbit was injured in the bombing

"(It is) in order to keep coercing the people of Northern Ireland, and of course Mr Blair, who has a war against terrorism everywhere except in this country."

Lord Tebbit was trade and industry secretary at the time of the bombing.