New footage has emerged showing Ann Widdecombe defending Nigel Farage just 20 minutes before police believe she was attacked at her Dartmoor home.
Ann Widdecombe defends Farage during radio interview before attack
Shocking new footage has appeared which appears to show beloved Express columnist and former MP Ann Widdecombe just 20 minutes before police believe she was attacked. Miss Widdecombe, who was found dead in her Dartmoor home last week, was well-known for her media appearances.
The interview shows her defending Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has resigned from Parliament and sparked a by-election in his Clacton seat following allegations about his finances. Displaying the blunt honesty for which she was famous, Miss Widdecombe described Commons rules requiring MPs to disclose financial dealings as “a joke”, saying they had become a method of attacking politicians rather than informing the public.
Demonstrating her well-known characteristic forthright nature, Miss Widdecombe defended Mr Farage’s ongoing financial situation. She revealed she had once been asked to declare a fee she had received for appearing “with Basil Brush” which she claimed “was a nonsense.”
Miss Widdecombe insisted that the register of interests had “departed from its original purpose” and was being used to catch out MPs – when it should be used to track who is influencing MPs. Speaking to Times Radio she laughed about the suggestion Basil Brush, a puppet of a fox, had influenced her.
She added: “I think first of all the very long drawn out nature of this, which as I say has been constantly accompanied by press speculation – and also the fact he was answering the standards committee for one thing and then suddenly another one comes alone, again applying to the time before he became an MP.”
The clip, which resurfaced this morning, appears to be an interview conducted with the station at 1210 on Wednesday. Times Radio wrote: “Ann Widdecombe defended Nigel Farage‘s financial conduct in an interview recorded only 20 minutes before police believe she was attacked.
“It shows her passionately-held beliefs and long political experience. This excerpt is being published with the permission of Ann’s family.”
Tributes poured in from Express readers and former colleagues of the iconic Briton when news emerged she had died aged 78. Mr Farage described her as a “colossus” of British politics, having worked alongside her in the Brexit referendum, and later when she sensationally joined the Brexit Party and served as an MEP.
Yet tributes turned to shock as news broke the police had opened a murder investigation into her death. The arrested and then released a 26-year-old man in Devon, before detaining a 28-year-old man later in the week. Counter-terror police are now treating it as terrorism, despite Devon and Cornwall Police previously distancing themselves from such a term.