LONDON - A 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of the murder of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe has been released and is no longer part of the investigation, police said on Saturday.
“Our priority remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined,” Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said in a statement released by Devon and Cornwall police.
“Our murder enquiry is in its early stages but moving at a significant pace. We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened,” he added.
Ambulance workers called police to Widdecombe’s home in rural southwestern England on Thursday, where she had been found dead after suffering serious injuries, police said.
Police said a 26-year-old, white British man had been arrested in Newton Abbot, a town about 15km from Widdecombe’s home. He was released a few hours later.
There was no information to suggest the murder was related to terrorism or had a political motive, said Longman.
Widdecombe, 78, was known for her socially conservative views, first as a junior minister in the Conservative government of John Major from 1992-97, and more recently as an immigration and justice spokesperson for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK.
News on Friday of her death led to tributes from across the political spectrum, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who paid tribute to “Ann’s dedication during her many years of public service”.
Two serving British members of parliament have been murdered in the last decade.
The Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a Nazi-obsessed loner during the Brexit campaign in 2016. The Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by a man inspired by the militant group, Islamic State.
Social conservative
Throughout her political career Widdecombe was known for her bluntness and socially conservative views, including opposition to abortion and to equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual relationships.
She also defended a policy of shackling pregnant prisoners during childbirth to prevent their escape, and viewed single mothers as poor role models, but was unusual among Conservative lawmakers in opposing the hunting of foxes with hounds.
In one of her most memorable comments, she said her former boss and future Conservative leader, Michael Howard, had “something of the night about him”.
Widdecombe said she never had sex or experienced romance, and converted to Catholicism partly in protest at the Church of England’s ordination of women as priests.
After leaving parliament, she appeared on the TV talent show Strictly Come Dancing in 2010. Despite her awkward dancing style and criticism from the judges, she was popular with viewers. Later she said the show’s decision to feature same-sex couples was out of keeping with its family audience.
She later joined Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and served as a member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2020.
Farage said she “played a decisive role in getting Brexit over the line”.
Former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson called her “a heroic Brexiteer and a great speaker who could move Tory audiences to such ecstasy that she was a very hard act to follow”.
