Former Tory minister, MP and MEP Ann Widdecombe has died aged 78. The politician, who was despised by Labour and the Left because she spoke common sense, passed away at 78. She had a profound sense of right and wrong and did not suffer fools gladly.
Early Life and Political Career
Born in 1947, Widdecombe entered parliament in 1987 representing the seat of Maidstone, and later Maidstone and the Weald in Kent. Under John Major, she served as employment minister and later prisons minister. She stood down from parliament in 2010 but re-entered politics in 2019, joining Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, which then became Reform UK.
Views on Immigration and Cancel Culture
Widdecombe was decades ahead of her time on illegal immigration. At the height of the Calais Jungle in 2015, she said: 'I can only say yet again that if we routinely detained asylum seekers and illegal immigrants we would not have this problem. I have been saying it since 1999.'
She was appalled at the cancer of cancel culture, political correctness, and wokism. In 2023, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was 'cancelled' after his attack on the Duchess of Sussex, writing in a newspaper column that he 'hated' her and dreamt of people 'throwing lumps of excrement'. His incendiary comments triggered a global brouhaha. Widdecombe defended him, saying she has 'a very low opinion of people who reject apologies'.
Tax and Economic Views
On Labour's punitive tax grabs, she said: 'People are taxed when they earn money, they’re taxed on the interest if they save money, and now if they want to give it to their children, they’re taxed on that too. It's WRONG. How much more does the state want?'
Strictly Come Dancing and the 'Curse'
Widdecombe gained public attention for star turns on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother. She famously dismissed the so-called 'Strictly curse', which has been blamed for the collapse of marriages and relationships among contestants. She said: 'No, Katya Jones and Seann Walsh are not the victims of the curse of Strictly, for the simple reason that there is no such thing. It is not some hex which has obliged them to conduct themselves so badly but their own lack of self-control and disregard for marital fidelity.'
She added: 'From the moment anybody agrees to appear on the show, that person knows that he or she is going to spend five days a week in the arms of someone of the opposite sex, that there will be not only a huge amount of physical contact but also the emotional roller-coaster of shared hope and disappointment, that some of the moves may be sexual and some of the dresses immodest. If anyone cannot handle that, then the solution is one simple phrase: “thanks but no thanks” when the agent rings up.'
Widdecombe said she never feared the curse with her dance partner Anton du Beke: 'Even if there had not been two decades’ worth of age gap, he was in it for the dancing, especially the ballroom routines, and I for the innocent fun. Indeed I always supposed that was what the programme was supposed to be about.'
She concluded: 'Showbiz marriages are notoriously unstable and Strictly is like a mini-Hollywood crammed into Elstree. People perform and act in close proximity and the results speak for themselves but the poor fools have only themselves to blame, not some witch’s spell.'
Personal Life
Never married, Widdecombe said she had not fallen in love since splitting with her university boyfriend. She hilariously said that even if 'Mr Right' appeared in her life, she would 'repel all boarders'.
