Ann Widdecombe, the socially conservative former British minister who later became a prominent face of the Brexit movement, has died aged 78. Widdecombe died on Thursday.
A Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010 representing Maidstone and later Maidstone and The Weald, she held ministerial posts at the Department of Employment and the Home Office under John Major, with responsibility for prisons and immigration. She later served as shadow home secretary under William Hague. Known for her outspoken manner, she opposed abortion and the ordination of women priests and backed the chaining of pregnant prisoners.
Widdecombe supported the Vote Leave campaign in 2016 and was elected as a Brexit Party MEP for South West England in 2019. She left the Conservatives, joining Reform UK in 2023, where she served as an adviser on justice and immigration.