Five people died and many others, including cabinet minister Norman Tebbit, were seriously injured.
Tory peer Lord Tebbit - not known for mincing his words - was even more scathing.
Labour politicians and unions said it echoed 1980s Tory minister Lord Tebbit's "get on your bike" comments.
BBC: Iain Duncan Smith tells Merthyr jobless to 'get on bus'
Former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit has in the past compared Mr Letwin's approach to that of a "Hampstead liberal".
And she was ably assisted by, amongst others, Lord (Geoffrey) Howe, Lord (Nigel) Lawson, Lord (David) Young and Lord (Norman) Tebbit.
Veteran trouble maker and Euro hater Lord Norman Tebbit failed to ignite the blue touch paper but instead called on the party to "calm down".
Milne accused Mr Tebbit of apparently trying to intimidate the broadcasters.
The PCS union accused the minister of being a Tebbit clone.
BBC: Iain Duncan Smith tells Merthyr jobless to 'get on bus'
Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit also called for a date to be set for the referendum David Cameron has promised if the party wins the next election.
Where a factory worker is displaced, they may have to relocate (i.e. be on their bike, as Lord Tebbit once said in the UK), or seek retraining.
Tebbit certainly suggests that ministers should be getting ready.
Writing inside the paper, Lord Tebbit reveals that he often regrets not being at her side during her last days in office, having turned down an invitation to rejoin the Cabinet.
BBC: Newspaper review: Margaret Thatcher's legacy considered
In October 1986 the Conservative Party chairman, Norman Tebbit, produced a dossier claiming reporter Kate Adie's TV reports on the US bombing of Libya the previous April had been biased towards Tripoli.
To laughter, Tory MP Philip Davies asked whether the prime minister was closer to his Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg or the former Conservative Party chairman, Lord Tebbit, one of his critics.
BBC: Prime Minister's Questions: David Cameron v Ed Miliband
"It is possible that if we seek to excessively impose our views on other foreign states, we are setting a precedent for some of them to impose our views on us, " Lord Tebbit said.
BBC: Tebbit warns UK not to 'impose views on foreign states'
Conservative peer Lord Tebbit questioned the BBC's decision.
Lord Tebbit said concerns that such a penalty would lead to miscarriages of justice - with the innocent executed - would be mitigated by the care juries would take deliberating when they knew a person's life was at stake.
Well it'll be ten days' time when it'll be all over, we'll know who Tony Blair's new despatch box sparring partner will be, if the polls are right it does look good, not all the polls but it does look good for Iain Duncan Smith the man backed by Lady Thatcher and Lord Tebbit among others.
BBC: News | BREAKFAST WITH FROST | Conservative leadership contender Iain Duncan Smith
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