"Neither Mrs Thatcher or I, would have any time for the sisterhood approach" says Ann Widdecombe

By Joseph Willits 
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The main premise of the BBC's Fern Meets Ann Widdecombe, emphasised the issue of vulnerability. Much was made of Widdecombe, a spinster, living alone amidst the wilderness of Dartmoor, yet with the backdrop of celebrity outings in Strictly Come Dancing, and an upcoming pantomine as Widdy in Waiting. Rightly or wrongly, she was perceived as a woman who craved the limelight in both her political life and extra curricular activities.

Yesterday, the BBC and the Express focused on comments Widdecombe made about not being given a peerage.  She described it as a "pretty pointed exclusion" saying that she would "be a liar if ... an exclusion that pointed didn't stab just a little bit".

Widdecombe was adamant however, about looking forward, rather than dwelling over rejection:

"If however he [Cameron] was expecting I'd sit lamenting on Dartmoor, then tough luck. He's had to watch me having the time of my life."

Although her criticism was subtle, Widdecombe made suggestion that some of the Coalition's commitments to wooing women were wrong, whilst recalling her own experience of entering Parliament. She had "got there on the same basis as the men, which a lot of women can't say now. I'd competed equally, and I'd prevailed", she said. Women are not competing equally now "if you've got positive discrimination, and shortlists reserved for women. They don't have to do what we had to do."

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