Ann Widdecombe(1947-2026)

Ann Widdecombe's father was a senior civil servant with the Ministry of Defence, and as he moved around the world she attended several schools, including the Royal Naval School Singapore and La Sainte Union Convent, Bath, before going up to Birmingham University (BA Latin 1969), then Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (BA philosophy, politics and economics 1972, MA) She began her working life with Unilever in marketing 1973-75, before moving to London University in 1975, where she became the senior administrator. She left the University to enter Parliament in 1987. In 1997 she famously accused Michael Howard, her political boss, of having "something of the night" about him, following a departmental dispute for which she took the rap. It seemed to have blocked any rise in his career--until he was elected leader of the Conservative Party and of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in November 2003. In 2001 she resigned from the shadow cabinet and decided not to run in the leadership election.