Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe dies at 78
My favourite Ann Widdecombe memory is of her and her film crew lumbering after a sex worker screeching "Aren't you ashamed?!" and immediately getting hit in the face with a can of lager.
When minister for prisons, she said restraints should only be removed for pregnant prisoners once they were actually in labour. Otherwise they might escape by jumping from the first floor window of a medical facility.
Lumbering is so evocative of Ann Widdecombe
My favourite Widdecombe moment is the one I heard about today.
The shortcomings of her own ignorance and prejudices was entirely beyond her which is why it was more farce than documentary
I can't find the one of her with her legs wide apart in that bollocks tory power stance only it looks like she's peeing
Hounding the sex workers as if they were forcing men to buy sex! You can't sell sex unless someone is prepared to pay for it! So why wasn't she hounding the punters? Awful woman who won't be missed by me.
Cartoon from 2005: Ann Widdecombe and her High Church Mice
I misspelled her name in the cartoon: Ann doesn't have an "E". UNLIKE HER MICE.
I am in awe. There are things where I think "I could have done that."... and then there's this :-) Brilliant job.
Has it been over 20 years? The belaboured punchline to this is one of the foundations of my conversational style
There's not enough trundling these days. I blame the evolution of smoother bearings in furniture wheels.
I have no idea what I just read or the context for it, but it made me laugh heartily. Thank you for that.
The Viz curse strikes again...
One day someone should just collect together all of Davey’s cartoon strips about the improbable adventures of minor celebrities, it would be like a cartoon history of the last few decades
Now this is absolute high art.
Pretty certain this is how she’d want to be remembered
‘Jabbed in the arse by a passing steeple’ has just entered my lexicon.
I’ve been jabbed in the arse by a passing steeple.
There really is a Viz strip for everything
The death of Ann Widdecombe has triggered the memory of all the Brexit MPs turning their back when Ode to Joy was played in the EU parliament. It was absolutely shameful and one of the many reasons she deserves zero respect.
It was one of the most shameful days, total disrespect to the group of French schoolchildren who were playing.
I hate to speak ill of the dead, but she was a horrible woman.
Does Steve Bray do funerals?
I can't call to mind any occasion where the satchel-mouthed, raddled, old bigot ever earned any respect.
Shameful - dismissed as a stunt by farage supporters . Totally unnecessary to disrespect the EU Parliament . Can only hope his ‘fun & games’ will now end in the ignominy of losing his seat to Count Binface
Their turning of backs to Ode to Joy was unforgivable. Widdecombe would have been well-cast as Miss Trunchbull in Ronald Dahl’s Matilda. A perfectly gruesome individual.
Ann Widdecombe was a far right extremist who incited hate against LGBTQ ppl. Despite her bigoted behaviour, the British media seem to think it’s perfectly OK [then & now] to treat her like some sort of ‘beloved’ character. One wonders if she were as antisemitic or racist - wld that be so?
I note too all sorts of supposedly ‘Christian’ websites are mourning her loss as if she were St Teresa of Àvila. Unfortunately they don’t understand that if carry hate around in your head & become a member of a far right party - there is no chance she’s getting the golden ticket from JC.
She was almost certainly also racist and antisemitic. She was a member of the Brexit Party from 2019 and served as the MEP for South West England from 2019-2020. She joined Reform UK in 2023 and served as the party's Immigration and Justice spokesperson from 2023.
It’s perfectly ok to believe two things simultaneously; one that her murder was heinous and wrong, and that the person responsible should go to jail for a very long time; two, that she was a nasty, hate-filled bigot who made lives miserable for thousands.
Apparently, as long as you're dragged along a dance floor by Anton du Beke all is forgotten
She *was* racist and antisemitic
You young thing! I’m old enough to remember her before Strictly! She’s definitely been accused of antisemitism and racism, in fact even recently she defended Reform. hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/who-...
Anne Widdecombe was quite literally very racist and dedicated a huge amount of her career to the project of demonising refugees and migrants.
Queer comrades, stop fucking doing this. Stop. Racism is rife and it is excused and accepted and celebrated. The fact that you didn't know Widdecombe was ah outspoken racist is just one example of that. Stop playing oppression top trumps and fight fascism.
CW/TW racism, slur Widdecome was definitely racist, she wouldnt even *apologise* for using the term "g*lliw*g" She was a gross person I dont knowhow anyone can sit and mourn that
this is what is meant by white queer people being white first what the hell do you mean IF she were as antisemitic or racist?
NEW: Devon and Cornwall Police say a 26 year old man, a white British national, has been arrested for the murder of Ann Widdecombe. It is not being treated as terrorism.
Sad that the police had to emphasise the White British National bit to avoid the far right initiating riots.
Sad to hear, however much I disliked her politics. Is Farage still claiming to be the most attacked politician, I wonder? Just asking questions.
Although it's understandable, it's so sad that the urgent priority is to relate the ethnicity and status of the suspect.
Not Nigel's week. First he calls an election to fight a bin and now he can't blame melanin and call for a summer of riots
That'll be Farage gutted he wasn't a black Muslim asylum seeker then. bsky.app/profile/mich...
Another ‘lone wolf’? Weird how they only come in white. That aside, how awful for another politician to have been murdered.
"So the hate filled, homophobic, far-right loving, Ann Widdecombe has died. She fought tooth and nail for Section 28 not be repealed. She won’t be missed and this country is better off without her 🖕." Via - Gays Against Fascism
Good fucking riddance. One of those people who make me want to believe in heaven and hell and a just god.
Wicked women, I wish I could more sympathetic to her loss, but hey, death comes to all of us; eventually
Although she was a hateful pos it’s looking like she met a very gruesome death. Karma???
SO GLAD this rancid slimy Cuntface is dead. She should’ve died at birth & spared us her vile thoughts & actions. Cunt.
Ann Widdecombe died today. Here's a list of statements she made so we can understand who she was. "Homosexual acts are wrongful... disgusting." said science may "produce an answer" to Homosexuality "We remove restraints when treatment has commenced or, in the case of pregnant women when labour..
is confirmed." On inflation "Well then you don't do the cheese sandwich."
Yeh, Ann Widdicombe was a terrible person, and her dying doesn't change that.
Her Christian faith was particularly street in her views on women in prison being shackled during childbirth.
Did she, aye? That's more oxygen for the rest of us.
Claims to be Pro Life. Dies.
She was one hard, vile, greedy, cold-hearted, unchristian woman, and I for one will not miss her or think of her with any fondness. She should be shelved along with that evil Thatcher!
Been throwing up since about 3am. Punctuating this with posts about Ann Widdecombe. What a time to be alive.
Emails have also been down all morning so can't even get done what I need to do before i go collapse in a heap.
Hope you recover from the Widdecombitis ASAP.
oh god, and in this weather, fuck! hope it clears up soon so you can really enjoy the day
are you sure you’re not being haunted?
Boo. Hope you feel better soon
I didn’t care for Ann Widdecombe but that she may have been murdered sent a shiver down my spine❗️ I’d never wish it on any politicians whose politics I dislike It highlights how crass Farage is to claim he’s the politician whose been most attacked.. despite Jo Cox’s & David Amess’ murders👎🏼
Me too and shame on anyone who doesn't condemn this, seen a few still making cracks, this isn't remotely a subject for humour.
I once spoke to a detective who said that they always thought about how terrified the victim must have been. I think about that every time I see a murder reported on the news. You should never wish harm to anyone.
Oh dear. I hope she wasn't murdered.
Depressingly terrible news. Poor lass!
Exactly my thoughts. Farage should STFU!
Story says no indication it was political
I celebrate no one’s death; it snuffs out the chance of redemption. Ann Widdecombe was pro-conversion therapy, pro-Section 28, and anti-equal marriage. I don’t celebrate her death, but I will celebrate all the joyous living that spited her. I hope she’s found the love she clearly craved.
That's beautifully compassionate and generous. All humans deserve compassion of this kind; it's a pity she showed so little of it in life.
there was never any chance for redemption.
I would think someone choosing to be a bigot for decades snuffs out their own chance of redemption, not what anyone else thinks about it after they die.