Anne Widdecombe, a long-standing member of parliament, was brutally murdered at her home in Dartmoor. I condemn this murder in the strongest possible terms, and I hope the perpetrator is found and banged up for a long time. I also agree that politics is a battlefield of ideas, and if we disagree, we must disagree agreeably, and I disagreed with pretty much everything she espoused to.
We can do two things: mourn the loss of Anne Widdecombe and reflect on her legacy. Let us start with religion. Someone described her as a committed RC; she converted to Roman Catholicism from the Church of England in 1993, when she described the ordination of women as the last straw. This is a woman who may have had difficulties with the suffrage movement if she were around in the early 1900’s. She also said she would not ever fly B.A. if staff were not allowed to display religious symbols, as if that is important for a safe landing and ordering a glass of red wine!!! She was certain that the Catholic faith was a force for good, despite all the scandals and its inherent misogyny.
She supported gay conversion therapy, she opposed same sex marriage, believed in the death penalty, did not believe in a woman’s right to choose, and was sceptical about the climate crisis. She re-entered politics by joining the Brexit Party, became an MEP and aided in tearing us away from our closest economic and political neighbours. She then went on to join the grifter Nigel Farage to become a member of Reform. From there, as they all do, she then graduated to GB Spews. She was fundamentally opposed to Irish Unity and likened Brexit to enslaved people and colonialism. Yes, she was a bit nutty.
She was also a TV celebrity appearing on shows from Have I Got News for You and Strictly, both of which were seen by many, including me, as a great success. What is not surprising is that her esteemed colleague, Nigel Farage, has made the murder of his colleague all about him and his security, even though the £5 million gift he got for his crypto mate living in Thailand was for his security
Anne was a character the like whom will never be seen again. She had a sense of humour, a sharp wit and tongue, as Michael Howard found out. She was steeped in her faith and her allegiance to the imaginary male friend in the sky, and was socially conservative, both of which do not make her a bad person. She was a woman of conviction, both in her religious and political beliefs and would make Miss Jean Brodie’s authoritarian and fiercely independent characteristics look like Mary Poppins. Let me finish with two quotes on conviction: “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity,” William Butler Yeats and “A man/woman with a conviction is a hard person to change,” Leon Festinger(with the addition of a couple of nouns)
Suneil Sharma
13th July 2026
The Gob 
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