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The Right Honourable Ann Widdecombe DSG
Official portrait, 2019
Minister of State for Prisons
In office 28 February 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Michael Forsyth
Succeeded by	Joyce Quin
Minister of State for Employment[a]
In office 27 May 1993 – 5 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Patrick McLoughlin
Succeeded by	Lord Henley
Junior ministerial offices Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security In office 30 November 1990 – 27 May 1993 Prime Minister John Major Preceded by Gillian Shephard Succeeded by William Hague
Member of the European Parliament for South West England
In office 2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded by	Julia Reid
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald (1997–2010) Maidstone (1987–1997)
In office 11 June 1987 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	John Wells
Succeeded by	Helen Grant
Shadow Cabinet offices
1998–1999	Health
1999–2001	Home Department
Personal details
Born	Ann Noreen Widdecombe (1947-10-04)4 October 1947 Bath, Somerset, England
Died	c. 8 July 2026(2026-07-08) (aged 78) Haytor Vale, Devon, England
Party	Reform UK (2019–2021, 2023–2026)[1]
Other political affiliations	Conservative (1976–2019) Independent (2021–2023)
Alma mater	University of Birmingham Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Occupation	Politician television personality
Ann Widdecombe's voice Widdecombe speaking at the European Parliament Recorded 15 January 2020

Ann Noreen Widdecombe (4 October 1947 – c. 8 July 2026) was a British politician and television personality. As a member of the Conservative Party, she was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald and the former Maidstone constituency from 1987 to 2010. She was a member of the Brexit Party from 2019 and served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 2019 to 2020. She joined Reform UK in 2023 and served as the party's Immigration and Justice spokesperson from 2023 until 2026.

Born in Bath, Somerset, Widdecombe read Latin at the University of Birmingham, then PPE at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She was a religious convert from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism and was a member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. She served as Minister of State for Employment from 1994 to 1995 and Minister of State for Prisons from 1995 to 1997. She later served in the Shadow Cabinet of William Hague as Shadow Secretary of State for Health from 1998 to 1999 and Shadow Home Secretary from 1999 to 2001. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1997.

Widdecombe stood down from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election. From 2002 she made numerous television and radio appearances, including as a television presenter. She was a contestant on the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, and was runner-up of the twenty-first series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2018. A prominent Eurosceptic, in 2016 she supported the Vote Leave campaign to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU). Widdecombe returned to politics as the lead candidate for the Brexit Party in South West England at the 2019 European Parliament election; she won the seat in line with results nationally and served until the country left the EU on 31 January 2020. In the general election of December 2019, she fought Plymouth Sutton and Devonport for the Brexit Party, where she came third but retained her deposit.

Ideologically, Widdecombe identified as a social conservative and stressed the importance of traditional values. As a member of the House of Commons, she opposed the legality of abortion, opposed granting LGBT people legal rights such as the same age of consent as heterosexuals, and opposed the repeal of Section 28. She supported the reintroduction of the death penalty for murder. She was opposed to all forms of assisted dying. She supported rigorous laws on animal protection and was opposed to fox hunting.

Widdecombe was found dead at her home on Dartmoor, Devon, on 9 July 2026, aged 78. A murder investigation was launched by Devon and Cornwall Police, with counter-terrorism police leading the investigation by 13 July.

Ann Noreen Widdecombe was born on 4 October 1947^[2][3] in Bath, Somerset, the second child and only daughter of Rita Noreen (née Plummer; 1911–2007) and Ministry of Defence civil servant James Murray Widdecombe (1910–1999).^[4] Both parents were from the West Country: her father was born in Saltash and her mother in Plymouth. As a child, she often visited the area to see relatives and would walk on Dartmoor with her father.^[5]

She attended the Royal Naval School in Singapore^[6] and La Sainte Union Convent School in Bath,^[3] before reading Latin at the University of Birmingham.^[7] She later studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.^[8] She served one term as the secretary of the Oxford Union in 1971, and one term as its treasurer in 1972.^[9]

While at Oxford she lived next door to Mary Archer, Edwina Currie, and Michèle Brown, the wife of Gyles Brandreth.^[10] She worked for Unilever from 1973 to 1975 and then as an administrator at the University of London from 1975 to 1987 before entering Parliament.^[3]

In 1974, Widdecombe served as personal assistant to Michael Ancram during the February and October general elections.^[9] From 1976 to 1978 she was a councillor on Runnymede District Council in Surrey.^[11]

Widdecombe contested Burnley in the 1979 general election and in 1983 stood against David Owen in Plymouth Devonport.^[12][13] In 1983, she co-founded Women and Families for Defence with Lady Olga Maitland and Virginia Bottomley, a group formed in opposition to the anti-nuclear Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp.^[14]

Widdecombe was first elected to the House of Commons for the Conservatives at the 1987 general election, representing Maidstone (renamed Maidstone and The Weald in 1997), which she won with a majority of 10,364 over the SDP–Liberal Alliance's Christopher Sutton-Mattocks.^[15][16]

Widdecombe joined Prime Minister John Major's government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security in 1990. In 1993, she moved to the Department of Employment and was promoted to Minister of State the following year. In 1995, she entered the Home Office as Minister of State for Prisons and visited every prison in the UK.^[17]

In 1996, as prisons minister, she defended the Government's policy of shackling pregnant prisoners while they were in hospital receiving prenatal care. She told the Commons that the restrictions were necessary to prevent escapes: "Some MPs may like to think that a pregnant woman would not or could not escape. Unfortunately this is not true. The fact is that hospitals are not secure places in which to keep prisoners, and since 1990, 20 women have escaped from hospitals." Jack Straw, then Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, described the practice as "degrading and unnecessary".^[18][19]

Major's government was voted out in the general election of 1 May 1997. Later that month, during an inquiry into a series of prison escapes, Widdecombe remarked of former Home Secretary Michael Howard that there was "something of the night about him".^[20] The comment became widely quoted and is thought to have contributed to the failure of Howard's 1997 Conservative leadership campaign, a view shared by both Howard and Widdecombe. It led to caricatures portraying him as a vampire, partly referring to his Romanian ancestry.^[21][22][23] Howard became party leader in 2003, after which Widdecombe said that she did not retract any of her words about him from 1997, stating: "But that was '97; this is 2003. That was a quarrel; this is not going to be a feud."^[24]

Following the Conservatives' defeat in the 1997 election, she spent a year on the backbenches before serving under William Hague as Shadow Health Secretary from 1998 to 1999 and Shadow Home Secretary from 1999 to 2001.^[25]

During the 2001 Conservative leadership election, she could not find sufficient support amongst Conservative MPs for her leadership candidacy. She first supported Michael Ancram, who was eliminated in the first round, and then Kenneth Clarke, who lost in the final round. She subsequently declined to serve in Iain Duncan Smith's Shadow Cabinet.^[2]

In 2001, when Michael Portillo was standing for Conservative Party leadership, Widdecombe described him and his allies as "backbiters" due to his alleged destabilising influence under Hague.^[6][26] She went on to say that, should he be appointed leader, she would never give him her allegiance.^[6] This was amidst objections by socially conservative critics of Portillo described as a homophobic campaign by Timothy Heppell.^[26]

In the 2005 leadership election, she initially supported Kenneth Clarke again. Once he was eliminated, she switched her support to Liam Fox. Following Fox's subsequent elimination, she took time to reflect before finally declaring for David Davis. She expressed reservations over the eventual winner David Cameron, feeling that he did not, like the other candidates, have a proven track record, and she was later a leading figure in parliamentary opposition to his A-List policy.^[27] At the October 2006 Conservative Conference, she was Chief Dragon in a political version of the television programme Dragons' Den, in which A-list candidates were invited to put forward a policy proposal, which was then torn apart by her team of Rachel Elnaugh, Oliver Letwin and Michael Brown.^[28]

In an interview with Metro in September 2006 she stated that if Parliament were of a normal length, it was likely she would retire at the next general election.^[29] She confirmed her intention to stand down to The Observer's Pendennis diary in September 2007,^[30] and again in October 2007 after Prime Minister Gordon Brown quashed speculation of an autumn 2007 general election.^[6]

In November 2006, she moved into the house of an Islington Labour Councillor to experience life on a council estate. In response to the experience, she said: "Five years ago I made a speech in the House of Commons about the forgotten decents. I have spent the last week on estates in the Islington area finding out that they are still forgotten."^[31]

In 2007 Widdecombe was one of the 98 MPs who voted to keep their expense details secret.^[32] When the expenses claims were leaked, however, Widdecombe was described by The Daily Telegraph as one of the "saints" amongst all MPs.^[33]

In May 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons, it was reported that Widdecombe was gathering support for election as interim Speaker until the next general election.^[34] On 11 June 2009, she confirmed her bid to be the Speaker,^[35] but came last in the second ballot and was eliminated.^[36]

Widdecombe retired from politics at the 2010 general election. It was rumoured that she would be a Conservative candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner in 2012: she said she had been offered both Kent and Devon and Cornwall, but had declined. She later spoke about her opposition to the Coalition Government and her surprise at not being given a peerage by David Cameron.^[37]

In 2016, she supported Brexit during the 2016 EU referendum and, following the resignation of David Cameron, endorsed Andrea Leadsom in her candidacy for election for the leadership of the governing Conservative Party.^[38][39]

In 2019 she returned to politics as a candidate for the Brexit Party in the European parliament elections in South West England, which were held on 23 May, though she maintained that she would still vote for the Conservatives in the local elections that took place three weeks before.^[40] She was expelled by the Conservative Party immediately after her announcement.^[41] Widdecombe had considered joining the Brexit Party in March 2019, but joined later, in May.^[42]

Widdecombe said that her decision to stand resulted from the Government's failure to deliver Britain's departure from the EU on schedule. "Both major parties need a seismic shock," she said, "to see the extent of public disgust."^[41][40] She subsequently won her seat.^[43]

She entered the European Parliament in 2019 as a Brexit Party MEP for South West England and sat on the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).^[44] On 3 July 2019 she used her maiden speech in Strasbourg to compare Brexit to slaves revolting against their owners and to a colonised country rising up against occupying forces, a stance that was criticised by some members of both the European Parliament and the UK House of Commons.^[45][46][47] Her tenure as an MEP ended with the UK's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020.^[48]

Widdecombe stood as the Brexit Party candidate for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport in the December 2019 general election; she came a distant third but narrowly retained her deposit with 5.5% of the vote. Nigel Farage said that she was told by the Conservative Party that she would be part of their Brexit negotiations if she stood down as a candidate.^[49]

In 2023 she joined Reform UK – the successor to the Brexit Party – as the party's immigration and justice spokesperson.^[50]

As an MP, Widdecombe expressed socially conservative views, including opposition to abortion; it was understood during her time in frontline politics that she would not become Health Secretary as long as this involved responsibility for abortions. She was a committed Christian who characterised the issue as one of life and death, but insisted her view had been the same when she was agnostic.^[51] She was a member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children while studying at Oxford.^[52] During Parliament, Widdecombe was a member of the Pro-Life All Party Parliamentary Group, which met with SPUC over concerns the organisation's more strident approach to abortion policy could alienate Protestant and atheist supporters.^[53] She converted from the Church of England (CoE) to the Roman Catholic Church following the CoE decision to ordain women as priests.^[54]

She was an opponent of assisted dying in any form, saying that any such legislation would fail to "protect the mentally ill, disabled and the frail elderly". She further commented: "You cannot get to my age without having seen loved ones suffer [...] or having seen dear friends die in pain. And, yes, I too have thought 'We wouldn't do this to an animal'. But that emotional indignation has also to be extended to those whom any euthanasia law would threaten."^[55]

Although not an MP at the time, Widdecombe voiced support for the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in England and Wales.^[51] She subsequently opposed further reforms while in Parliament. Out of the 17 parliamentary votes between 1998 and 2008 considered by the Public Whip website to concern equal rights for homosexuals, Widdecombe took the opposing position in 15 cases, not being present at the other two votes.^{[56][non-primary source needed]} In 1999, Widdecombe stated that "I do not think that [homosexuality] can be promoted as an equally valid lifestyle to [heterosexual] marriage, but I would say the same about irregular heterosexual arrangements."^[51]

She consistently argued against an equal age of consent for same-sex relationships, voting against a 1994 act (which would have reduced the age of consent for some male-male sexual activity from 21 to 18), and in 1998 (arguing against a further reduction from 18 to 16, which later occurred in 2000).^[9] On the latter act, she wrote in The Mail on Sunday that "one of the sundry horrors for which this Government is likely to be remembered will be that it gave its imprimatur to sodomy at 16".^[57] She later said in 2000: "I do not believe that issues of equality should override the imperatives of protecting the young."^[58] Widdecombe opposed the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988.^[51][59] In 2012, Widdecombe voiced support in the Daily Express for the practice of conversion therapy, which claims to change the orientation of homosexuals.^[60]

Widdecombe also expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage, introduced by David Cameron's government in 2014, arguing that "the state must have a preferred model" which is "a union that is generally open to procreation".^[61] Despite her personal opposition, in 2019 she stated that she did not support the abolition of same-sex marriage, describing the idea as "daft".^[62] She also opposed gender self-identification for transgender people.^[63] In 2020, she expressed her opposition to same-sex dancing on Strictly Come Dancing, saying: "I don't think it is what viewers of Strictly, especially families, are looking for. But that's up to the audience and the programme."^[64][65]

In her speech at the 2000 Conservative conference, she called for a zero tolerance policy of prosecution, with the punishment of £100 fines for users of cannabis. This was well received by rank-and-file Conservative delegates.^[66]

Over the years, Widdecombe expressed her support for a reintroduction of the death penalty, which was banned for use in peacetime in the UK in 1965. She notably spoke of her support for its reintroduction for the worst cases of murder in the aftermath of the murder of two 10-year-old girls from Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002, arguing that in the five years up to 1970 during which the death penalty was suspended, the national murder rate had more than doubled.^[67]

She consistently voted for the ban on the hunting of foxes.^[68][69] Widdecombe was among more than 20 high-profile people who signed a letter to members of parliament in 2015 to oppose David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.^[70]

In 2007, she wrote that she did not want to belittle the issue of climate change, but was sceptical of the claims that specific actions would prevent catastrophe.^[71] In 2008, she wrote that her doubts had been "crystalised" by Nigel Lawson's book An Appeal to Reason;^[72] in 2014, she likened Lawson's difficulty in getting the book published to the book-burnings in Nazi Germany.^[73] In 2008, Widdecombe claimed that the "science of climate change is robustly disputed"^[73] and, in 2009, that "there is no climate change, hasn't anybody looked out of their window recently?"^[74][75] She was one of the five MPs who voted against the Climate Change Act 2008.^[73][76]

In February 2010, Widdecombe voted to support an early day motion in defence of homeopathy that challenged the report on the subject adopted by the Science and Technology Committee.^[74][77]

Widdecombe became an Anglican in her 30s, after a period of agnosticism following her departure from religious schooling.^[78] She converted to Catholicism in 1993 after leaving the Church of England,^[79] explaining to reporters from the New Statesman:

I left the Church of England because there was a huge bundle of straw. The ordination of women was the last straw, but it was only one of many. For years I had been disillusioned by the Church of England's compromising on everything. The Catholic Church doesn't care if something is unpopular.^[80]

In October 2006, she pledged to boycott British Airways for suspending a worker who refused to hide her Christian cross and maintained the boycott until the company reversed the suspension.^[81]

In 2010, Widdecombe declined the offer to be Britain's next ambassador to the Holy See because she was suffering from a detached retina.^[82] She was made a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI for services to politics and public life on 31 January 2013.^[83]

In 2009, she partially defended Carol Thatcher's use of the word 'golliwog' on Any Questions?, saying: "There is a generation to whom a golliwog is merely a toy, a generation which was much endeared by its golliwogs which grew up with them on jam jars ... and there is a generation, a new generation for whom that word is deeply offensive and one does have to make I think some allowance for the fact."^{[84][non-primary source needed]} In December 2019, WhatsApp conversations between her and Brexit Party activists were leaked to the Plymouth Herald which showed Widdecombe using the term amid rumours party campaign funding was being diverted away from Plymouth ahead of the general election of that year. Widdecombe said: "Yes, I threw all my toys out of the pram. Bears and gollywogs flying everywhere!!"^[85][86]

In 2019 Widdecombe defended the comments she made in a 2012 article that supported "gay conversion" therapy.^{[87][better source needed]} She told Sky News that science may yet "produce an answer" to the question of whether people can "switch sexuality".^[88][89] Following Widdecombe's apparent endorsement of conversion therapy, at least one venue, the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe, Devon, cancelled a performance of her one-woman show.^[90]

Widdecombe and two other Brexit Party figures were criticised for previous appearances on the David Icke-affiliated Richie Allen Show, which has been accused of promoting Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family. Widdecombe appeared three times between August 2017 and April 2019 and was described as an "old friend of the show" by the host during one appearance.^[91][92] Widdecombe told The Jewish Chronicle that she agreed to appear to discuss Brexit, and that she "had never heard of the Richie Allen Show until I agreed to go on" and distanced herself from its antisemitic content by, among other things, pointing to her membership of the Conservative Friends of Israel, B'nai B'rith event speeches, and her novel An Act of Treachery, which she said was set during the Holocaust.^[93]

In 2002, Widdecombe took part in the ITV programme Celebrity Fit Club. Also in 2002, she appeared in a Louis Theroux documentary depicting her life in and out of politics.^[94] In March 2004, she briefly became The Guardian's agony aunt, introduced with an interview by Emma Brockes.^[78] In 2005, BBC Two broadcast six episodes of The Widdecombe Project, an agony-aunt television series.^[95] In 2005, she appeared in a new series of Celebrity Fit Club, this time as an agony aunt.^[95][96] Also in 2005, she presented the show Ann Widdecombe to the Rescue, in which she acted as an agony aunt, offering advice to disputing families, couples and others across the UK.^[95] In the same year, she appeared in a discussion programme on Five about England's greatest monarch since the Norman Conquest; she chose Charles II.^[97]

She was the guest host of news quiz show Have I Got News for You twice, in 2006 and 2007. Her first appearance, in 2006, was widely regarded as a success.^[98][99] After her second appearance, Widdecombe said she would not return to the show because of comments made by panellist Jimmy Carr which she considered filth,^[100] though she described regular panellists Ian Hislop and Paul Merton as "the fastest wits in showbusiness".^[100]

In 2007, she awarded the University Challenge trophy to the winners.^[101] In the same year, she appeared in "The Sound of Drums", the 12th episode of the third series of Doctor Who, endorsing the Master's Prime Minister campaign.^[102] In 2007 and 2008, Widdecombe fronted an ITV1 series titled Ann Widdecombe Versus, in which she spoke to various people about issues related to her work as an MP, with an emphasis on confronting those responsible for problems she wished to address. In 2007, she discussed prostitution, social benefits, and truancy. A fourth episode was broadcast on 18 September 2008, in which she travelled around London and Birmingham talking to girl gangs.^[103] In 2009, Widdecombe appeared with Archbishop John Onaiyekan in an "Intelligence Squared" debate defending the motion that the Catholic Church was a force for good. Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens argued against the motion and won the debate overall.^[104]

In October 2010, she appeared as a contestant on BBC One's competition series Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Anton Du Beke. Despite low marks from the judges and finishing bottom of the leaderboard seven out of the ten weeks she was in the competition, Widdecombe and Du Beke were popular with the show's viewers, and were ultimately voted through to the latter stages, before becoming the ninth couple to be eliminated in week 10, finishing in sixth place overall.^[105] After ten weeks of routines strongly flavoured by comedy, the couple was eliminated in the bottom two.^[106][107]

In 2011, Widdecombe played the Lord Mayoress in an episode of Sooty.^[108] In 2012, she hosted 30 one-hour episodes of Cleverdicks, a quiz show for Sky Atlantic.^[109] In April 2012, she presented an hour-long documentary for BBC Radio 5 Live, Drunk Again: Ann Widdecombe Investigates, examining how British attitudes to alcohol consumption had changed in recent years.^[110][111] She appeared in a Strictly Come Dancing during the 2012 Children in Need appeal night.^[112] On 4 November 2012, Widdecombe guest-hosted an episode of BBC's Songs of Praise about singleness.^[113] In October 2014, she appeared in the BBC series Celebrity Antiques Road Trip with expert Mark Stacey.^[114]

In April and May 2015, Widdecombe took part in the four-part BBC One series 24 Hours in the Past, alongside Colin Jackson, Alistair McGowan, Miquita Oliver, Tyger Drew-Honey, and Zoe Lucker, experiencing life as workers in a dustyard, coachhouse, pottery, and as workhouse inmates in 1840s Britain.^[115] She appeared in an episode of Tipping Point: Lucky Stars in 2016. In 2017, Widdecombe took part in ITV's Sugar Free Farm.^[116]

In January 2018, Widdecombe participated in the Celebrity Big Brother twenty-first series.^[117] She was criticised for comments regarding the Harvey Weinstein controversy^[118] and for remarks perceived as anti-LGBT to her fellow housemates, most notably to drag queen Courtney Act (Shane Jenek).^{[119][19][120]} She ultimately finished as runner-up, behind Jenek.^[121] In 2019, Widdecombe appeared on the celebrity version of The Crystal Maze, where, alongside Sunetra Sarker, Wes Nelson, Matthew Wright, and Nikki Sanderson, she won money for Stand Up to Cancer.^[122] In 2020, Widdecombe travelled to Norway for three days to visit Halden Prison for the documentary The World's Most Luxurious Prison.^[123]

Following her retirement, Widdecombe made her stage debut on 9 December 2011 at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford, in the Christmas pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, alongside Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood.^[124] In April 2012, she appeared in a ten-minute-non-singing cameo in Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera La Fille du Regiment, playing the Duchesse de Crackentorp.^[125] She reprised her pantomime role, again with Horwood, at the Swan Theatre, High Wycombe, in December 2012.^{[126][failed verification]}

In December 2016, Widdecombe stepped in at short notice to play the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Bridlington Spa, replacing the injured Lorraine Chase.^[127] In December 2017, she played the Empress of China in the pantomime Aladdin at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft.^[128]

Until her retirement following the 2010 general election, Widdecombe divided her time between her two homes, one in London and one in the countryside village of Sutton Valence, Kent, in her constituency.^[129] She sold both upon retiring.^[130][131] She shared her London home with her widowed mother, Rita Widdecombe, until Rita's death on 25 April 2007, aged 95.^[132] In March 2008, she bought a house in Haytor Vale, on Dartmoor in Devon, where she retired.^[133] Her brother, Malcolm (1937–2010), an Anglican canon in Bristol, retired in May 2009 and died in October 2010.^[134] Her nephew, Roger Widdecombe, is an Anglican priest.^[135]

She neither married nor had any children. In November 2007 on BBC Radio 4, she recalled how a journalist had once produced a profile assuming she had had at least "one sexual relationship", to which she replied: "Be careful, that's the way you get sued." When interviewer Jenni Murray asked if she had ever had a sexual relationship, Widdecombe laughed and said, "It's nobody else's business."^[136]

A 2001 report in The Guardian stated that she had a three-year romance while studying at the University of Oxford.^[137] Widdecombe confirmed this in January 2018 on the Channel 5 reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, explaining that she had ended the romance to prioritise her career.^[138][78]

Widdecombe had a fondness for cats and other animals, including foxes; part of her website, the Widdyweb, was devoted to the pet cats and goats she had lived with.^[139] She adopted two goats at the Buttercups Goat Sanctuary in Boughton Monchelsea, near Maidstone.^[140] In an interview, she spoke of her appreciation of music, despite describing herself as "pretty well tone-deaf".^[141][142]

Outside politics she wrote novels and a weekly column for the Daily Express.^[143]

In January 2011, Widdecombe was president of the North of England Education Conference in Blackpool, where she gave a speech supporting selective education and opposing the ban on building new grammar schools.^{[144][145][146]} She also became a patron of The Grace Charity for M.E.^[147]

In April 2012, Widdecombe said that she was writing her autobiography, which she described as "rude about all and sundry, but an amount of truth is always necessary." Her autobiography Strictly Ann: The Autobiography, was published in 2013 and was variously described as "forthright", "candid", and "rude".^[37]

Widdecombe was a patron of the charity Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land (SHADH) and in 2014 visited the SHADH Donkey Sanctuary in the West Bank.^[148][37]

This ​section documents a current police investigation and may change rapidly. Please update outdated or incomplete information with citations to reliable sources. (July 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Widdecombe is believed by police to have been killed in an attack at her home in Haytor Vale, Dartmoor, Devon, at approximately 12:30 pm on 8 July 2026.^[149] She had appeared remotely on Talk shortly after 8 am that morning and was scheduled to appear via Zoom on the Channel 5 programme Matt Allwright at 1 pm, last contacting a researcher for the programme at 12:19 pm.^[149] She failed to join the Zoom call and did not respond to subsequent attempts at contact from the production team, who then alerted her agent.^[150] At about 11:40 am on 9 July, Widdecombe was found dead.^[151] Her death was announced on the morning of 10 July.^[50]

In the early afternoon of 10 July, Devon and Cornwall Police said that Widdecombe's body had been discovered with "serious injuries" and that they had launched a murder investigation. At a press conference that evening, Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said the police had no reason at that time to believe the killing was politically motivated or terror-related.^[152] A man was arrested on the same day on suspicion of murder, but was released without charge the next day and is no longer part of the investigation.^[151][153]

Another man, a 28-year-old white British national, was arrested on 11 July at an address in Rotherham, approximately 270 miles (430 km) from Widdecombe's Devon property.^[154][155] On 12 July, police said they were not searching for anyone else.^[156] CCTV footage showed a man leaving an address linked to the suspect at around 7 am on 8 July, who neighbours said loaded his car with "some kind of wooden stick".^[155] On 13 July, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that Counter Terrorism Policing South East had taken charge of the investigation following "new information and evidence".^[157] The same man was later rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.^[158]

Widdecombe's death attracted expressions of condolence and support for the murder investigation from British politicians and public figures. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called her a "formidable politician who was never afraid to speak her mind". Previous Conservative leaders also expressed their condolences, such as Iain Duncan Smith, who described her as "refreshing";^[50] and Boris Johnson, who called her a "heroic Brexiteer [who] could move Tory audiences to ecstasy".^[159]

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he was "deeply, deeply upset by the nature of her death", and laid a wreath at Dartmoor National Park near her home on 11 July.^[160][161] He also stated that Reform UK were supporting the police investigation, pointing to the party's analysis of their email inbox to identify potential "abuse" directed towards Widdecombe in the lead-up to her death.^[162] The leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran of Reform UK, described her as "a force of nature and a national treasure".^[163] An outdoor memorial service on 12 July at Buckfast Abbey was attended by Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, and Reform UK MPs Richard Tice, Danny Kruger and Lee Anderson. Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, called Widdecombe "a colossus [and] a legend".^[164] Reform UK increased security for its MPs following Widdecombe's death.^[165]

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, called her a "distinguished politician over many, many years with many achievements" and described her death as a "huge, huge loss", saying his thoughts were with her friends and family. He urged the public to rise above political differences.^[166] Andy Burnham, the MP for Makerfield and the sole candidate in the 2026 Labour Party leadership election, offered his "deepest condolences" and urged support for the police investigation.^[167] Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that Widdecombe "was a woman of deep faith who devoted her life to public service".^[167]

Anton Du Beke, Widdecombe's partner on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, said her death was the "saddest of news" and that he was devastated. In a video posted on X, he said he "had the most brilliant time with Ann" and said that "she became a real friend".^[168] Broadcaster Jeremy Vine, whose titular programme Widdecombe frequently appeared on, called it "impossible to take in" and said her "life had been stolen".^[169] Tributes were also paid by Widdecombe's Celebrity Big Brother 21 co-stars Ashley James and Amanda Barrie,^[169][170] broadcasters Iain Dale and Piers Morgan,^[171][168] and the charity Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land, of which Widdecombe had been the patron since 2002.^[172]

• Widdecombe was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009.^[173]
• She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv) by the University of Birmingham on 5 July 2012.^[174]
• Holy See: Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great (DSG) (2013)^[175]

• 2000: The Clematis Tree. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-64572-2
• 2002: An Act of Treachery. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-64573-0
• 2005: Father Figure. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-82962-9
• 2005: An Act of Peace. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-82958-0

• 1999: Inspired and Outspoken: The Collected Speeches of Ann Widdecombe; edited by John Simmons, with a biographical preface by Nick Kochan. London: Politico's Publishing. ISBN 1-902301-22-6
• 2004: The Mass is a Mess, with Martin Kochanski. London: Catholic Writers' Guild
• 2013: Strictly Ann: The Autobiography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-1780220925

• 2000: Kochan, Nicholas. Ann Widdecombe: Right from the Beginning. London: Politico's Publishing. ISBN 1-902301-55-2

• Official website
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Ann Widdecombe MP
• The Public Whip – Ann Widdecombe MP voting record
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ann Widdecombe
• Ann Widdecombe at IMDb 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Wells	Member of Parliament for Maidstone 1987–1997	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald 1997–2010	Succeeded by Helen Grant
Political offices
Preceded by John Maples	Shadow Secretary of State for Health 1998–1999	Succeeded by Liam Fox
Preceded by Norman Fowler	Shadow Home Secretary 1999–2001	Succeeded by Oliver Letwin
European Parliament
Preceded by William Dartmouth	Member of the European Parliament for South West England 2019–2020	Constituency abolished