Westminster is reeling from the news that police believe Ann Widdecombe, the former shadow Home Secretary, was murdered. She was found dead in her remote Dartmoor home on Thursday with serious injuries. As I write, police have arrested a white male suspect after a manhunt.
At this stage it is the done thing to urge people not to jump to conclusions, but if my WhatsApps are anything to go by, the leaping has already begun. Everything that happens in these times turns political very quickly, but is even more likely to do so when the murder victim is a former Conservative MP who had defected to Reform.
Police have arrested a white male suspect after a manhunt
Widdecombe’s death follows yet another row about the security of our politicians after Nigel Farage used his televised statement calling a by-election in Clacton to outline his anger that he does not get state-funded security. His claim that he was the most attacked MP went down badly with some others, who recall the murders of Labour’s Jo Cox and the Tory David Amess. But Reform sources responded to that backlash by saying ‘Does he need to be killed before people take this seriously?’ – and this afternoon they are pointing out that Widdecombe’s murder justifies that stance.
It would be good if our political parties didn’t get into a game of one-upmanship about death threats but saw incidents like this – if there is a political motive (which remains unproven) – as an attack on democracy rather than on themselves.
Farage did have some state security, but it was withdrawn; Taser-wielding officers were later offered again, though his team say they don’t want to put his life in the hands of security which might be withdrawn again on other people’s whims. It seems obvious to me that the safety of leaders who get regular threats should be the responsibility of the government.
My own experiences with Ann Widdecombe were limited to friendly chats when I was seeking a quote long after she was at the peak of her powers. She was always courteous and totally sure of herself and her ideas, even when they were outside what the Establishment deemed the norm for polite society. Frankly, if everyone had been as blunt, there might not be quite so many voters feeling alienated from the political class.
It is worth saying that her branding of Michael Howard as having ‘something of the night’ about him dogged him for years and shows the power an effective phrase can have in politics. Also worth remembering that when she pushed for a tough crackdown on drug use, her shadow cabinet colleagues helpfully called up journalists and urged them to ring round the shadow cabinet – most of whom then proudly announced they had smoked pot in their youths. It’s a rough old trade, but it should not be a trade where honest people’s lives are threatened. I wonder if all the people who wrote poisonous tweets when it was announced that she had died have now deleted them.
Andy Burnham will become prime minister in ten days’ time but the week has been all about Farage – and you don’t need to be too cynical to see that this awful event will distract some attention from the growing furore around how Reform’s leader has chosen to fund his activities. Don’t forget, he first claimed the £5 million gift he received (but didn’t declare) from Christopher Harborne was to fund his security – though it then emerged that ‘Posh George’ Cottrell had paid for his protection.
Gabriel Pogrund of the Sunday Times dropped another story last night which reported that the Metropolitan Police have launched a criminal investigation into at least £500,000 of donations made to Reform UK by Cottrell’s mother Fiona, an aristocrat who reportedly dated King Charles in the 1970s. The money came in two payments of £250,000 in May 2024 before the general election.
Meanwhile, we wait to see whether Andy Burnham will begin to set out his plans in more detail. All we know for sure is that he has been nominated by 332 Labour MPs. A reminder that there are only 21 cabinet salaries by law and that even when you chuck in other ministerial posts, parliamentary private secretaries and trade envoy roles, only about a third of his backers will get a job – which means more than 200 are going to be pretty miffed.
Comments