Widdecombe to step down as MP
Ann Widdecombe has said she will stand down as an MP at the next election.
The outspoken Conservative MP had not been expected to seek re-election, but last week said she would stand again if Gordon Brown announced a general election this week.
With election speculation firmly ended, Ms Widdecombe confirmed last night she will be standing down as MP for Maidstone and the Weald after 20 years.
She said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made the last 20 years so rewarding and especially the Officers and Members of Maidstone Conservative Association.”
Educated at the Royal Naval School Singapore and La Sainte Union Convent in Bath, she went on to study Latin and PPE at Birmingham and Oxford.
Ms Widdecombe entered parliament in 1987 after unsuccessfully contesting seats in Burnley and Plymouth Devenport.
In 1990 she became a junior minister at the Department for Social Security before moving to the Department of Employment in 1993.
In 1995 she became prisons minister, where she gained notoriety by saying a pregnant prisoner should be shackled to a bed while giving birth.
Despite achieving a high profile as shadow home secretary between 1998 and 2001, she failed to gain enough support to stand for the leadership in 2001.
She was beaten by Michael Howard, who she notoriously described as having “something of the night about him”.
An outspoken Catholic, Ms Widdecombe has frequently alienated single mothers and gay people but found support among the Conservative grassroots.
Never married but a romantic novelist, she once said a hot bath, strong whiskey and detective novel were better than sex.
She is notable among Conservative MPs for having voted in favour of the fox hunting ban.
She has since increased her media profile, including an appearance on Celebrity Fit Club and an agony column for the Guardian. The 60-year-old can lately be seen promoting fresh pasta in a television advert.
Ms Widdecombe has said she plans to retire to Dartmoor with her dogs and write.
Maidstone and the Weald Conservative Association are yet to select a replacement candidate, but Ms Widdecombe is reported to be against a member of the ‘A list’ parachuting in.
