The longtime MP and Conservative ex-minister joined the Brexit Party in 2019 and was more recently a spokesman for Reform UK. Nigel Farage said:
“When Ann Widdecombe decided to stand for The Brexit Party in the snap 2019 European Elections, it was a big moment and huge boost. The voters loved her.
She played a decisive role in getting Brexit over the line and will be missed by us all.”
Health Secretary James Murray also paid tribute to her this morning: “She was never someone who was afraid about sharing her views… she paid such an important part in public life.” Her TV appearances were never short of entertainment, from arguing about trans issues on Celebrity Big Brother or telling Owen Jones to “stop squeaking” – RIP…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”