Ann Widdecombe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
| In office 13 January 1999 – 18 September 2001 | |
| Leader | William Hague |
| Preceded by | Sir Norman Fowler |
| Succeeded by | Oliver Letwin |
| ShadowSecretary of State for Health | |
| In office 24 May 1998 – 13 January 1999 | |
| Leader | William Hague |
| Preceded by | John Maples |
| Succeeded by | Liam Fox |
| Minister of State for Prisons | |
| In office 28 February 1995 – 2 May 1997 | |
| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Tony Baldry |
| Succeeded by | Office Abolished |
| Member of Parliament forMaidstone and The Weald Maidstone (1987–1997) | |
| In office 11 June 1987 – 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | John Wells |
| Succeeded by | Helen Grant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1947-10-04)4 October 1947 (age 77) Bath, Somerset,England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Brexit Party (since 2019) Conservative (until 2019) |
| Residence | Haytor, Devon |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford |
Ann Noreen WiddecombeMEP (born 4 October 1947 inBath, Somerset,England) is aBritish formerpolitician. She was theConservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for theconstituency of Maidstone and The Weald from 1987 to 2010.
Widdecombe is the daughter of aMinistry of Defence civil servant James Murray Widdecombe and Rita N Plummer. She attended the Royal Navy School inSingapore,[1] and aconvent school in Bath. She then readLatin atBirmingham University and later attendedLady Margaret Hall, Oxford, to readPhilosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). She worked forUnilever (1973–75). She was then an administrator at theUniversity of London (1975–87) before entering Parliament.[2]
She was first elected to theHouse of Commons at the 1987 General Election. From 1995 to 1997, she was the Minister of State for Prisons. Ann Widdecombe served inWilliam Hague's shadow cabinet from 1997 to 2001. Widdecombe retired from politics at the2010 general election.
Throughout her political career, Widdecombe was sociallyconservative and converted from theChurch of England toCatholic Church in 1992[3] after the Church of England voted to allow femalepriests.
She is a committed animal lover. She is one of the few Conservative MPs to have consistently voted for the ban onfox hunting.[4]
Widdecombe was a contestant in the 2010 series ofStrictly Come Dancing.[5][6] In 2002 she took part in aLouis Theroux television documentary. It showed her life, both in and out of politics.[7] She was cast as herself in an episode of the science-fiction dramaDoctor Who.[8]
On 23 April 2012, Widdecombe presented an hour-longdocumentary forBBC Radio 5 Live. It wasDrunk Again: Ann Widdecombe Investigates, looking at how the British attitude to getting drunk has changed over the last few years.[9]
