Brighton bomber Patrick Magee claims the 1984 Grand Hotel blast paved the way for peace.

Magee, jailed for life but released 14 months ago under the Good Friday peace agreement, said he frequently thought of the five people who died in the blast.

He also claimed he was glad the bomb failed to kill Margaret Thatcher, then the Prime Minister, because her death would have made peace talks impossible. In an interview with the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post, Magee said: "I regret the deaths at Brighton.

"I deeply regret that anybody had to lose their lives, but at the time did the Tory ruling class expect to remain immune from what their frontline troops were doing to us?

"After Brighton, anything was possible and the British for the first time began to look very differently at us."

He added: "I have argued that a military campaign was necessary, and equally now I would argue that it is no longer necessary."

The bomb which ripped through the Grand in October 1984 killed five people and injured dozens - among them Norman Tebbit's wife, Margaret, who was left paralysed.

Tory Party chairman Michael Ancram, who was in the hotel, said: "The murderous attack was nothing more than a cowardly terrorist action which added to the determination of the British government to see terrorism defeated.

"Mr Magee's comments add insult to the murder of innocent civilians and should be roundly condemned."