A friend of Ann Widdecombe has said learning she was murdered was “one of the worst days of my life”. 

The former Conservative Prisons Minister and Brexit Party MEP was found dead in her Devon home last week and police believe she was killed. 

Over the weekend, a man from Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, was arrested on suspicion of murder and has since been re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Edwina Currie, who knew Ms Widdecombe at Oxford University and served in the House of Commons with her, said her death had shocked her. 

“I think the day we realised that she'd been murdered was one of the worst days of my life,” Ms Currie recalled. 

“And you think to yourself, ‘My God, what's happened? How could anybody do this?’ 

“[She was] a frail 78-year-old lady, living on her own in a country cottage. 

“Guess who's doing the same? I am; [she had] a very high profile, thoroughly enjoying life, being on radio, being on TV. 

“And somebody has seems to have walked in and battered her to death.”

Ann Widdecombe as she leaves the European Parliament in Brussels for the last time as an MEP, ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union in 2020. Picture by: AP Photo/Francisco Seco.

The former MP for South Derbyshire described the “whole thing as really awful”, adding that Ms Widdecombe is not the first parliamentarian she knew to have been killed. 

Ms Currie was elected in the 1983 Thatcher landslide alongside David Amess, who was murdered in 2021, while carrying out a constituency surgery. 

“He was my parliamentary assistant when I was junior minister,” Ms Currie said. 

“One of the loveliest people you could hope to meet and he was murdered in his constituency. 

“We had another one immediately just before the [Brexit] referendum in 2016; Jo Cox, a young woman who'd only been elected for a year.

“It happens to people in all parties - it's not just one party. 

“It's happened in Northern Ireland; it happened in Brighton in 1984, when the IRA tried to kill the whole cabinet - being a public face of politics is a dangerous game.” 

The car of MP Airey Neave, who was assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army in 1979. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ms Currie continued that public life has “always has been” dangerous but now feels risky than it has in years. 

“I had the alarm man round yesterday just checking everything was working and taking me again through the various procedures,” she said. 

“And I should not be frightened, we should not be frightened.

“We should be fearless in our willingness to stand up and be counted, to say things that are not going with the flow, to say things and to argue for points of view which are not popular, to do things which are not popular if we're in Government. 

“Otherwise, you just have a complete collapse of Government and that's not desirable either - and I really worry about it.”

Britain’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said Ms Widdecombe’s death "raises questions about the security of those in public life", adding that police will soon issue new security guidance to MPs.

Main image: Edwina Currie and Ann Widdecombe. Pictures by: Alamy.co,m.