Ann Widdecombe's Biography

Who is Ann Widdecombe?

Widdecombe was educated at Royal Naval School, Singapore; La Sainte Union convent, Bath; Birmingham University; and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Ann Widdecombe had a two year stint in the marketing department of Unilever, before becoming an administrator at London University (1975-87).

In 1987, Ann Widdecombe became Conservative MP for Maidstone and thereafter became a highly assiduous voter and attender at the Commons.

A devout Christian, Ann Widdecombe has often championed anti-abortion causes in parliament.

In 1993, she converted to Catholicism after the Church of England made plans to appoint woman bishops.

Amongst her government positions were Minister for Employment 1994/5 and Minister for the Home Office 1995-1997 when Michael Howard was Home Secretary. Ann Widdecombe famously commented that Howard had 'something of the night' about him.

Ann Widdecombe's books include a novel The Clematis Tree (2000); and her hobbies include researching Charles II's escape.

The Guardian in 2004 commissioned Ann Widdecombe to write an advice column entitled Buck Up! This led to her presenting for the BBC, Ann Widdecombe to the Rescue.

Her other TV appearances included Grumpy Old Women, When Louis met Ann Widdecombe and Celebrity Fit Club.

In August 2007, Ann Widdecombe presented a three-part series on ITV, entitled Ann Widdecombe Versus Prostitution.

In October 2007, Ann Widdecombe confirmed that she would not be standing for re-election in the next general election.

Ann Widdecombe has regularly written a column in The Express.

In June 2009, Ann Widdecombe made it known that she would like to take over from Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons, however she did not prove a popular candidate and failed to get near the votes of the eventual winner John Bercow.

In 2010 she presented Moses and the Law, one of the documentaries in Channel 4's series The Bible: A History.

In September 2010 Ann Widdecombe became a celebrity on Strictly Come Dancing. She was paired with Anton Du Beke.

In spite of very low scores from the judges, Ann and Anton survived until they were the ninth couple to voted off.

Ann Widdecombe was one of the celebrities to take part in the second series of ITV's Sugar Free Farm broadcast at the start of 2017.

In January 2018 she became one of the housemates on Celebrity Big Brother. She came runner-up.

In April 2019, Ann Widdecombe revealed that she would be a candidate for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party in the forthcoming European elections.

In December 2019, she stood for the Brexit Party in the General Election but failed to be elected.

Ann Widecombe's family

In 2012, Ann Widdecombe was featured on the Channel 5 show War Hero in My Family, in which she explored the experiences of her uncle, Donald Widdecombe, who was an army chaplain with Montgomery's 8th Army.

He was a Baptist vicar before the second world war, and then volunteered for army service, joining the Queen's Royal Regiment. Donald arrived in the Middle East as the tide was turning against Rommel's Afrika Korps and he saw action at the battle of El Alamein.