LONDON — British police have opened a murder investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe, a 78-year-old former government minister who was announced dead earlier on Friday, July 10.
Widdecombe represented the Conservative Party in parliament from 1987 to 2010 and held a number of junior ministerial roles under former Prime Minister John Major.
Devon and Cornwall Police released a statement confirming the investigation is underway. “Our murder enquiry is in its early stages but moving at a significant pace,” the statement read. “We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened and to locate the person responsible who we believe to be a white male.”
Officers were called to Widdecombe’s home around noon on Thursday, where they found her dead with serious injuries. Police noted that forensic work at the property was still ongoing.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood took to the social media platform X to express her grief, calling the circumstances surrounding the death “extremely distressing.”
Widdecombe’s death comes after two sitting British members of parliament were killed within the past ten years. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by an extremist during the Brexit campaign, and Conservative lawmaker David Amess was fatally stabbed in 2021 by an individual motivated by the militant group Islamic State.
Throughout her years in politics, Widdecombe was widely recognized for her strongly conservative social positions. She opposed abortion and resisted efforts to equalize the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual relationships. She also stood behind a controversial government policy that involved restraining pregnant prisoners during childbirth to prevent escape attempts.
A Catholic convert who never married and described herself as a virgin, Widdecombe was nonetheless a vocal advocate for traditional family values.
After stepping away from parliament, she made a memorable appearance on the British television talent competition “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2010. Though judges were critical of her dancing ability, she won over audiences and remained a fan favorite throughout her time on the show.
She later aligned herself with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament, serving from 2019 to 2020. Most recently, she held the role of immigration spokesperson for Reform UK — the renamed Brexit Party — which has been leading in most British opinion polls.
Before news of the murder investigation broke, tributes began pouring in from former colleagues across both the Conservative and Reform UK parties. Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson honored her memory on X, writing that she was “a heroic Brexiteer and a great speaker who could move Tory audiences to such ecstasy that she was a very hard act to follow.”
