{"id":520164,"date":"2026-07-11T01:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520164\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T01:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:38:19","slug":"former-british-mp-ann-widdecombe-found-dead-at-home-man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520164\/","title":{"rendered":"Former British MP Ann Widdecombe found dead at home, man arrested on suspicion of murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Widdecombe, a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010, was known for her strong Christian faith and outspoken views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">In 1995 as prisons minister she was embroiled in a row after defending a policy of chaining pregnant prisoners to prevent them from escaping.<\/p>\n<p>Reality TV<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Years later, she endeared herself to the public when she appeared in 2010 on the BBC\u2019s Strictly Come Dancing show where celebrities with no dance experience are paired with a professional partner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Her \u201cgalumphing\u201d moves, as she described her dance style, helped her survive to the show\u2019s quarter-finals thanks to the vote from the public, who cheered on her ability to laugh at herself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cFor many, of course, she will be best (or worst?) remembered for her unforgettable appearances on Strictly,\u201d her management agency Cloud9 said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Prime Minister Keir Starmer said news of the murder inquiry was  \u201dshocking\u201d and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the circumstances \u201cextremely distressing\u201d.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The whole country will be utterly shocked by the awful news about the circumstances of Ann Widdecombe\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>Today we come together across the political divide and I pay tribute to Ann\u2019s dedication during her many years of public service.<\/p>\n<p>My thoughts and deepest condolences\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hXps6A9s78\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/hXps6A9s78<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Keir_Starmer\/status\/2075610445486928191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Widdecombe joined the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage in 2019, and served as a European MEP between 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe played a decisive role in getting Brexit over the line and will be missed by us all,\u201d Farage said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">Her Strictly appearance was,however, to turn her into a reality TV star, when she joined such shows as Celebrity Big Brother.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gngXgPCjmfo\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; AFP<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Widdecombe, a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010, was known for her strong Christian faith and outspoken views.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,142935,11924,1975,14801,690,2740,1874,266,305,42,1345,1743,5158,6722,6368,4275,43,1118,90,675,28758,114326,40,38,41,39,257942],"class_list":["post-520164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-ann","tag-arrested","tag-at","tag-british","tag-dead","tag-former","tag-found","tag-government","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-home","tag-launched","tag-man","tag-minister","tag-mp","tag-murder","tag-news","tag-of","tag-on","tag-police","tag-probe","tag-suspicion","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-widdecombe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}