Widdecombe, Ann (1947–)

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Widdecombe, Ann (1947–)

English politician and writer. Name variations: Rt. Hon. Ann Widdecombe. Born Oct 4, 1947, in Bath, Somerset, England; dau. of Rita Widdecombe and James Murray Widdecombe (OBE, director general in Ministry of Defence); University of Birmingham, BA; Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, MA.

As an outspoken, controversial Conservative, elected to House of Commons for Maidstone and the Weald (1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005); became Home Office minister in Charge of Prisons in John Major's government; became shadow Health Secretary (1997), then shadow Home Secretary; when the Church of England approved the ordination of women as priests (1993), protested by joining the Roman Catholic Church; also a novelist, wrote The Clematis Tree (2000), An Act of Treachery (2002) and An Act of Peace (2005).