Ann Widdecombe: The Digested Interview

“I’d rather form my own party than ever join Ukip. We could call it the Widdy Mob,” she says, before adding: “I’m joking. I was very angry with the Conservatives, I was very alienated by gay marriage, not only by the issue but by the attitude of the party high command. David Cameron just bulldozed the whole thing through, though it had never been in any manifesto or tried or tested.” ...

Actually, Widdecombe, 66 (she seems to have been that age forever), is her own woman. Her robust political persona, combined with her turn on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, makes her one of the best-loved Tories, but her politics, strongly influenced by her religious convictions, are too controversial for the leadership to stomach...

If [Strictly's Craig] Revel Horwood married his boyfriend, would she attend the ceremony? The “Doris Karloff” scowl passes over her features. “I always follow my conscience. Most of my friends would not put me in that position.” ...

Ann's Express column - a must read!

People, she says, are often surprised that she has gay friends, but in many respects Widdecombe is a chameleon – a quality she attributes to her nomadic childhood as the daughter of an Admiralty employee...

This might explain why she’s happiest living alone. “What I find amazing is that people can’t accept that not everybody has the same priorities. I was receptive if Mr Right came along, but he didn’t. It didn’t bother me, but it appears to bother everybody else.” ...

Recently the press tracked down her, apparently only, boyfriend, Colin Maltby, a banker with whom she had a three-year relationship at Oxford. He recalled how he’d fallen for Widdecombe when she wore hot pants to a party...

She would have liked to have had children, but does not regret not doing so...

Daily Telegraph.