Ann Widdecombe has died at the age of 78. Devon and Cornwall Police have launched a murder investigation into her death. Here, Rachel Johnson pays tribute to Ann:

I disagreed with almost everything Ann Widdecombe said, from women not working, to women not being ordained as priests, to women not marrying other women, and more. She railed in private and public against divorce and abortion, both of them mainstays of the feminist movement, and assisted dying, and she left the Conservative party over its failure to deliver a proper Brexit (she always said Brexit with rolled rr’s, “Brrrexit” I can hear her now). But she is proof that if you go into politics, it really helps if you know what you think, it helps to articulate it clearly, and it helps to stick to your guns. Current crop of politicians, nota bene.

She was the nation’s maiden aunt, almost its Joan of Arc

She was the nation’s maiden aunt, almost its Joan of Arc

You do not flip flop about, you do not trolley, you do not U-turn, you do not change Prime Ministers as quickly as you sack football managers, you do not bear the impression of the last person who sat on you, you do not play to the gallery (unless you’re on Strictly with Anton Du Beke and the judges are holding up twos and threes).

Ann was living proof that if you say what you mean, and you mean what you say, people will listen to you, and people will respect your views, even if they cordially loathe you and them. It doesn’t mean you will........

© The Spectator