Editing Ann Widdecombe (section)

==Personal life and family==
Until her retirement following the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], Widdecombe divided her time between her two homes&nbsp;– one in London and one in the countryside village of [[Sutton Valence]], Kent, in her constituency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/ann-widdecombe |title=Ann Widdecombe at |publisher=Fantasticfiction.co.uk |access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref> She sold both upon retiring at the next general election.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/regions/south_east/8288134.stm|title=An interview with Ann Widdecombe |last=Wharton|first=Craig|date=2 October 2009|work=The Politics Show|publisher=[[British Broadcasting Company|BBC]]|access-date=8 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/retirementproperty/3361350/Division-bell-rings-for-retiring-Ann-Widdecombe.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225200652/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/retirementproperty/3361350/Division-bell-rings-for-retiring-Ann-Widdecombe.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 February 2009 |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=Division bell rings for retiring Ann Widdecombe |first=Nicola |last=Venning |date=21 May 2008}}</ref> She shared her home in London with her widowed mother, Rita Widdecombe, until Rita's death, on 25 April 2007, aged 95.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brankin|first1=Una|title=Strictly Ann: Ann Widdecombe on why she'll sue anyone who says she's not a virgin|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/strictly-ann-ann-widdecombe-on-why-shell-sue-anyone-who-says-shes-not-a-virgin-30347852.html|access-date=10 April 2018|work=Belfast Telegraph|date=12 June 2014}}</ref> In March 2008, she bought a house in [[Haytor Vale]], on [[Dartmoor]] in Devon, where she retired.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/08/06/ann_widdecombe_feature.shtml |title=Widdecombe moves to Haytor|publisher=BBC Devon |access-date=26 August 2011|first =Laura |last =Joint|date =6 August 2008}}</ref> Her brother, Malcolm (1937–2010), who was an [[Anglican]] [[Canon (priest)|canon]] in Bristol, retired in May 2009 and died in October 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pipnjay.org/people/history/341-tribute-to-malcolm-widdecombe |title=Tributes to Malcolm Widdecombe |publisher=Pipnjay.org |date=13 April 2011 |access-date=26 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809231624/http://www.pipnjay.org/people/history/341-tribute-to-malcolm-widdecombe |archive-date=9 August 2011 }}</ref> Her nephew, Roger Widdecombe, is an Anglican priest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.annwiddecombe.com/issueshow.aspx?id=59&ref=13 |title=Thanksgiving Service at |publisher=Annwiddecombe.com |access-date=26 August 2011 |archive-date=4 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904031406/http://www.annwiddecombe.com/issueshow.aspx?id=59&ref=13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[File:Ann Widdecombe.jpg|upright|thumb|Widdecombe in 2006]]She has never married nor had any children. In November 2007 on [[BBC Radio 4]] she described how a journalist once produced a profile on her with the assumption that she had had at least "one sexual relationship", to which Widdecombe replied: "Be careful, that's the way you get sued". When interviewer [[Jenni Murray]] asked if she had ever had a sexual relationship, Widdecombe laughed "it's nobody else's business".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2007_45_tue.shtml |title=Ann Widdecombe on BBC "Woman's Hour" at |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>

A 2001 report in ''[[The Guardian]]'' said that she had had a three-year romance while studying at the [[University of Oxford]];<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glover |first1=Julian |last2=Roth |first2=Andrew |title=RIP: Ann Widdecombe's political career |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/18/conservatives.uk2|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=18 June 2001}}</ref> Widdecombe confirmed this in January 2018 on the UK reality TV show ''[[Big Brother (UK TV series)|Big Brother]]'', explaining that she had ended the romance in order to prioritise her career.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roche|first1=Elisa|title=Ann Widdecombe: I regret not having children and losing the love of my life|url=https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/243384/Ann-Widdecombe-I-regret-not-having-children-and-losing-the-love-of-my-life|access-date=9 January 2018|work=Express|date=28 April 2011}}</ref><ref name=Brockes1>{{cite news|last1=Brockes|first1=Emma|title=What a stupid question|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/mar/29/conservatives.uk3|access-date=17 February 2018|work=The Guardian|date=29 March 2004}}</ref>

Widdecombe has a fondness for cats and many other animals such as foxes; a section of her website, the ''Widdyweb'', is about the pet cats she has lived with.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.annwiddecombe.com/ann-widdecombe-cats.php|title=Ann Widdecombe's Cats &#124; Official Ann Widdecombe Web Site (WiddyWeb)|website=www.annwiddecombe.com}}</ref> Widdecombe adopted two goats at the Buttercups Goat Sanctuary in [[Boughton Monchelsea]] near Maidstone.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.annwiddecombe.com/ann-widdecombe-public-engagements.php|title=Ann Widdecombe|website=www.annwiddecombe.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}</ref> In an interview, Widdecombe talked about her appreciation of music, despite describing herself as "pretty well tone-deaf".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14161671 |agency=BBC News |title=Five Minutes With: Ann Widdecombe |date=16 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/15/election20051 |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Will |last=Hodgkinson |title=Ann Widdecombe |date=15 April 2005}}</ref>

Outside politics she writes novels, and a weekly column for the ''[[Daily Express]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Harp|first1=Justin|title=CBB explains how Ann is continuing her outside work|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/celebrity-big-brother/news/a847188/celebrity-big-brother-2018-how-ann-widdecombe-continues-newspaper-column/|website=Digital Spy|access-date=17 February 2018|date=10 January 2018|quote=Eyebrows were raised for some when the former Tory MP's weekly op-ed piece was published as usual by the ''Daily Express'' on Wednesday (10 January), drawing questions about the procedure for her to continue her outside work.}}</ref>

In January 2011 Widdecombe was President of the [[North of England Education Conference]] in [[Blackpool]], and gave a speech there supporting [[selective education]] and opposing the ban on new [[grammar schools]] being built.<ref>{{cite news|title=Treat children strictly, says dancing star Widdecombe|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/treat-children-strictly-says-dancing-star-widdecombe-qx8fv93f8s2|access-date=6 February 2018|work=The Times|url-access=subscription |date=6 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Ross|first1=Tim|title=Ann Widdecombe: lift ban on grammar schools|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8241633/Ann-Widdecombe-lift-ban-on-grammar-schools.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8241633/Ann-Widdecombe-lift-ban-on-grammar-schools.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=6 February 2018|work=The Telegraph|date=6 January 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Shepherd|first1=Jessica|title=Grammar school ban must end, Ann Widdecombe urges|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jan/05/widdecombe-backs-grammar-schools|access-date=6 February 2018|work=The Guardian|date=5 January 2011}}</ref> She also became a patron of The Grace Charity for M.E.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegracecharityforme.org/ |title=Welcome to the Grace Charity for M.E. |publisher=The Grace Charity for M.E. |access-date=21 November 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101030151852/http://www.thegracecharityforme.org/|archive-date=30 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 2012 Widdecombe said that she was writing her autobiography, which she described as "rude about all and sundry, but an amount of truth is always necessary". Her autobiography ''Strictly Ann: The Autobiography'', was published in 2013, and was variously described as "forthright", "candid", even "rude".<ref name=chorley />

Widdecombe is a patron of the charity [[Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land]] (SHADH) and in 2014 visited the SHADH Donkey Sanctuary in the [[West Bank]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goodnewsshared.com/safe-life-ann-widdecombe-visits-donkey-charity/|title=Safe For Life: Ann Widdecombe Visits Donkey Charity|date=July 2014|work=Good News Shared}}</ref><ref name="chorley"/>

===Religious views===
Widdecombe became an Anglican in her 30s, after a period of being an [[agnostic]] following her departure from religious schooling.<ref name="Brockes1" /> She [[Religious conversion|converted]] to Catholicism in 1993 after leaving the [[Church of England]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm|title=Tony Blair joins catholic church|publisher=bbconline|access-date=17 June 2009 |date=22 December 2007 |location=London}}</ref> explaining to reporters from the ''[[New Statesman]]'':

:I left the Church of England because there was a huge bundle of straw. The [[Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion|ordination of women]] was the last straw, but it was only one of many. For years I had been disillusioned by the Church of England's compromising on everything. The Catholic Church doesn't care if something is unpopular.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2010/07/catholic-church-religious|title=Ann Widdecombe&nbsp;– extended interview by Alyssa McDonald|work=New Statesman |location=UK|date=19 July 2010|access-date=28 October 2010}}</ref>

In October 2006, she pledged to boycott [[British Airways]] for suspending a worker who refused to hide her [[Christian cross]], until the company reversed the suspension.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=21286&in_page_id=34|title=Widdecombe pledges to boycott BA|date=15 October 2006|publisher=Metro|access-date=22 August 2009}}</ref>

In 2010, Widdecombe turned down the offer to be Britain's next ambassador to the [[Holy See]], being prevented from accepting by suffering a [[detached retina]].<ref name="Ann Widdecombe rules out Vatican appointment, The New Statesman, 2010">{{cite magazine|last=Crampton|first=Caroline|title=Ann Widdecombe rules out Vatican appointment|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/07/detached-retina-post-vatican|magazine=The New Statesman|access-date=16 December 2012}}</ref> She was made a Dame of the [[Order of St. Gregory the Great]] by [[Pope Benedict XVI]] for services to politics and public life on 31 January 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21860 |title=Ann Widdecombe awarded papal honour |publisher=Independent Catholic News |date=31 January 2013 |access-date=2 February 2013}}</ref>