Ann Widdecombe

Ann Widdecombe was a British politician, author and broadcaster. Born in Bath, she spent part of her childhood abroad because of her father’s work for the Ministry of Defence. She studied Latin at the University of Birmingham and philosophy, politics and economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Widdecombe served as the Member of Parliament for Maidstone, later Maidstone and The Weald, from 1987 until 2010. During her parliamentary career she held several government posts, including Minister of State at the Home Office, and later served as Shadow Home Secretary. She subsequently became a familiar television and radio personality and briefly returned to elected politics as a Member of the European Parliament.

Her fiction includes The Clematis Tree, An Act of Treachery, Father Figure, An Act of Peace and the self-published detective novel The Dancing Detective. She also wrote the autobiography Strictly Ann.