Anne Widdecombe Defects To The Brexit Party

24 April 2019, 08:16 | Updated: 24 April 2019, 09:35

Ann Widdecombe has announced she is going to be a candidate for the Brexit party in next month's European elections.

The former Tory says she's standing for Nigel Farage's party because Theresa May's handling of Brexit has been "hopelessly inadequate."

Ms Widdecombe, 71, said she would still vote Conservative in the upcoming local elections but would stand as a candidate for Nigel Farage's new party in the European elections.

She told the Daily Express: "In early May I shall do what I have always done since I first got the vote fifty years ago, and put my cross by the Conservative candidate in the local elections - but a couple of weeks later on May 23 I shall do what I have never done and cast my vote for a different party.

"Nay, I am going further than that: I am standing for the Brexit Party in order that I may campaign vigorously and convince my fellow voters that this time it is imperative to fire a very loud warning shot across the bows of the parties they normally support."

The former Home Office Minister has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1964, but suspects her latest move could see her kicked out, "if that happens, then so be it," she said.

Earlier this month Nigel Farage revealed Annunziata Rees-Mogg, the former Conservative candidate and sister of Tory arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, as a candidate.

European elections could still be cancelled if MPs approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement but with just one month to go, that is highly unlikely.