Ann Widdecombe was never afraid to speak plainly. I have personal experience of it. I met her once while working with the Coalition for Marriage. She had agreed to speak at one of our events and beforehand she kindly agreed to give me a video interview. I knocked on her door, and she waved me in, but gestured to me to be quiet because she was on a phone call. So I tiptoed into the room and whispered into the ear of one of her staff.
After she had finished her call, she tore a strip off me: ‘I said be quiet, that means you don’t talk!’ It was like a scolding from a school teacher. But within moments, she was back to her normal self, warm, friendly and generous with her time. She gave me a great video interview, utterly unapologetic in defending marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman. She believed what she said, and she said what she believed. Many admired her for that forthrightness. Others deeply disliked her because of it.
— This article continues for ET members
