Tories kick out Widdecombe after she defects to Farage
ANN Widdecombe has been expelled from the Tory Party after defecting to join Nigel Farage, the Mail can reveal.
The former Shadow Home Secretary made the explosive announcement yesterday that she would stand for the pro-Leave Brexit Party, rather than her own. Hours later, she received a letter from the party telling her that her membership would be cancelled and she would be expelled.
‘All party members are expected to fully support the party in all elections, and your candidacy for another political party is obviously in contention with this principal [sic] of membership and the rules above,’ it said.
Miss Widdecombe told the Mail: ‘I was standing for the Brexit Party, so it was implicit that I was going. It’s a rule, so I knew it was coming.
‘I had already resigned from the presidency of the Maidstone association because I didn’t want to embarrass them. I am excited about the European elections. Today has been a good day.’
Though no longer an MP, Miss Widdecombe, 71, had continued to be a member of the party. The former prisons minister served as an MP for Maidstone in Kent for 23 years.
She said yesterday: ‘Britain is an international laughing stock. Parliament is beyond parody, and the whole nation is fed up to the back teeth and just wants a resolution.
‘I believe that if the Brexit Party can make enormous gains in the European elections and win overwhelmingly, that will send shockwaves – both in Labour heartlands and in Tory shires.
‘It will make MPs rethink what they are doing as it will be a big reaffirmation of the people’s vote.’
Following the announcement, she posed with Mr Farage for pictures outside Europe House, the European Commission’s head office in the UK.
The former Ukip leader described his coup as ‘amazing’, adding: ‘If you’d said to me two months ago that someone like Ann Widdecombe would even leave the Conservative Party I would not believe you.
‘It just shows how badly wrong Government and Parliament have got this. You know most of our MPs wanted to stop Brexit effectively or dilute it or water it down and reduce us to a treaty that is in some ways worse than being in the European Union.
‘Ann is absolutely icy about this; that if this is not dealt with, we effectively lose our democracy and we lose the trust that needs to exist between Government and the people for this to be a great country.’
Mr Farage was speaking at a Brexit Party rally in Clacton- onSea in Essex, which drew a crowd of more than a thousand.
Miss Widdecombe’s decision to leave the party after 55 years shocked Westminster.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith told Talk Radio: ‘I’m really sad about Ann, who I’m very fond of. The Government has mismanaged this – she should have been in the Lords so she could have continued with her political career.’
Mr Farage has already announced star signings in Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister Annunziata and former Communist Claire Fox.
The Brexit Party will contest all 73 seats. It is said to have signed up 60,000 paying supporters and raised £1.5 million in less than a fortnight.
Asked if he was going to trounce the Tories in the elections, Mr Farage said: ‘Who’s to say? All you can do in life is travel optimistically but I think the branding of the party, the image of the party and the sheer calibre of people we’re attracting says to me we’ve got a real chance of doing something here.’
‘Parliament is beyond parody’