Ann Widdecombe

**Ann Noreen Widdecombe** <small>MEP</small> (born 4 October 1947 in Bath, Somerset, England) is a British former politician. She was the Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Maidstone and The Weald from 1987 to 2010.

## Early life

Widdecombe is the daughter of a Ministry of Defence civil servant James Murray Widdecombe and Rita N Plummer. She attended the Royal Navy School in Singapore, and a convent school in Bath. She then read Latin at Birmingham University and later attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). She worked for Unilever (1973–75).  She was then an administrator at the University of London (1975–87) before entering Parliament.

## Career

She was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1987 General Election. From 1995 to 1997, she was the Minister of State for Prisons. Ann Widdecombe served in William Hague's shadow cabinet from 1997 to 2001.  Widdecombe retired from politics at the 2010 general election.

Throughout her political career, Widdecombe was socially conservative and converted from the Church of England to Catholic Church in 1992 after the Church of England voted to allow female priests.

She is a committed animal lover. She is one of the few Conservative MPs to have consistently voted for the ban on fox hunting.

Widdecombe was a contestant in the 2010 series of _Strictly Come Dancing_. In 2002 she took part in a Louis Theroux television documentary. It showed her life, both in and out of politics. She was cast as herself in an episode of the science-fiction drama _Doctor Who_.

On 23 April 2012, Widdecombe presented an hour-long documentary for BBC Radio 5 Live. It was _Drunk Again: Ann Widdecombe Investigates_, looking at how the British attitude to getting drunk has changed over the last few years.

### Fiction

- 2000: _The Clematis Tree_. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- 2002: _An Act of Treachery_. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- 2005: _Father Figure_. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- 2005: _An Act of Peace_. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

### Non-fiction

- 1999: _Inspired and Outspoken: the collected speeches of Ann Widdecombe_; edited by John Simmons, with a biographical preface by Nick Kochan. London: Politico's Publishing
- 2000: Kochan, Nicholas _Ann Widdecombe: right from the beginning_. London: Politico's Publishing

## Infobox (politician)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: Ann Widdecombe
- **image**: Ann Widdecombe.jpg
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **office**: Shadow Home Secretary
- **leader**: William Hague
- **term start**: 13 January 1999
- **term end**: 18 September 2001
- **predecessor**: Norman Fowler, Sir Norman Fowler
- **successor**: Oliver Letwin
- **office2**: Shadow Cabinet (UK), Shadow Secretary of State for Health
- **term start2**: 24 May 1998
- **term end2**: 13 January 1999
- **leader2**: William Hague
- **predecessor2**: John Maples, Baron Maples, John Maples
- **successor2**: Liam Fox
- **office3**: Home Office, Minister of State for Prisons
- **primeminister3**: John Major
- **term start3**: 28 February 1995
- **term end3**: 2 May 1997
- **predecessor3**: Tony Baldry
- **successor3**: _Office Abolished_
- **office4**: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament
 for Maidstone and The Weald (UK Parliament constituency), Maidstone and The Weald
<small>Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency), Maidstone (1987–1997)</small>
- **term start4**: 11 June 1987
- **term end4**: 6 May 2010
- **predecessor4**: John Wells (politician), John Wells
- **successor4**: Helen Grant (politician), Helen Grant
- **birth place**: Bath, Somerset, England
- **nationality**: British
- **party**: Brexit Party (since 2019)
Conservative Party (UK), Conservative (until 2019)
- **residence**: Haytor, Devon
- **alma mater**: University of Birmingham
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
- **honorific suffix**: MEP