LONDON – A former British lawmaker was found dead with serious injuries in his home on Thursday, triggering a murder investigation and reigniting concerns about the safety of the country’s politicians.
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Anne Widecombe, 78, is one of Britain’s most prominent politicians, having served as a Conservative Party MP for 20 years before making a fresh start as a television personality. She is known for her strong socially conservative views on abortion and LGBTQ rights, and most recently served as justice spokesperson for the far-right party Reform UK.
Police said Friday there was no indication the killing was politically motivated, but her death renewed fears for the safety of British politicians, the first since two people have been killed in the past decade.
On Saturday, police announced that a 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder has been released and will no longer be part of the investigation. A heavy police presence remained outside Mr Widecombe’s home on Saturday as the investigation continued.
“Our murder investigation is in its early stages but is progressing at a good pace and we are devoting all the resources necessary to find out exactly what happened,” said Assistant Detective Constable Matt Longman of Devon and Cornwall Police.
Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was “shocking news”, while Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “stunned” and “really struggling to find the words”.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the circumstances of Mr Widecombe’s death were “extremely tragic” and urged the public to “avoid speculation and allow the police investigation to proceed”.
But Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, said he was concerned that “the situation is becoming even more dangerous for those in public life, particularly in politics”.
“I don’t know what the political motives are or if they even exist at all,” he said. “A robbery gone wrong? We don’t know.”
Mr Farage received a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from cryptocurrency billionaire donor Christopher Harborn in early 2024, but in June 2026 Mr Farage initially said it was for his own safety, adding that he needed protection “until the day I die”. He later said the gift was “unconditional.”
Britain’s Parliamentary Standards Committee is investigating whether Mr Farage broke rules by not declaring the gifts months before he became an MP.
For some, Mr Widecombe’s death has brought back memories of the murders of politicians Jo Cox and David Ames over the past decade.
Ms Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, said Ms Widecombe’s death had brought back “all the pain and emotion” of losing the murdered Labor MP’s wife in 2016.
“Obviously we do not know and cannot speculate about the motive, rationale or motivation for the attack,” he told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper. “But what we can say is that nothing can justify an attack like this.”
Mr Cox, 41, known for his social justice activism and seen as a rising star in Britain’s Labor Party, was stabbed 15 times and shot three times in 2016 when he was attacked outside his constituency office in Birstall, a town in West Yorkshire, northern England.
Mr Cox was a prominent supporter of the campaign to remain in the European Union and prevent the debate from being hijacked by migrants. The trial heard that convicted murderer Thomas Mair repeatedly shouted “Britain first” during the attack.
Five years later, in 2021, Conservative MP Mr Ames was stabbed multiple times by an Islamic State-inspired attacker. Ali Harbi Ali was sentenced to life in prison for murder in 2022.
The details of Mr Widecombe’s death remain unclear, but “it certainly goes against the backdrop of growing concerns about the safety of MPs”, said Andrew Barclay, a politics lecturer at the University of Sheffield.
He added that besides Mr Cox and Mr Ames, other reported crimes against MPs had “more than doubled since the 2019 general election, and since then there have been several high-profile cases of large-scale harassment, both physically and through social media”.
Tim Bale, a political science professor at Queen Mary University of London, said Britain is a “generally non-violent society” but “almost two members of parliament have been murdered in the last 10 years”.
“We are also more politically polarized than ever before,” he said, adding that politicians “have also had to get used to being threatened by people online and in person while campaigning.”
He added that while the risks could be exaggerated, “they are right to be concerned and rightly to seek protection.”
Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker told the X program that alarm had been raised after Ms Widecombe failed to appear for a remote television interview on Wednesday.
“Anne was scheduled to appear on ‘5 Daytime’ on Wednesday afternoon, but she stopped responding to messages and did not appear on the show.” “The team contacted her representative and asked them to check on her. This information was passed to police as part of the investigation.”
The management firm that represented Ms Widecombe after she left politics said her life and career had been driven by strong Christian values ​​and a commitment to public service.
“She loved her slice of political debate and, 16 years after leaving parliament, was still actively campaigning for reform in Britain and speaking out on the hot topics of the day,” Cloud9 Management said.
