Sky reporter slammed for Ann Widdecombe ‘spinster’ rant after murder investigation launched

Journalist Adam Boulton has been criticised for his ‘disgraceful’ remarks about Ann Widdecombe, made shortly after a murder investigation was launched into her death.

This morning, it was announced that the former Conservative MP had died aged 78.

Then, this evening, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed that the circumstances were being treated as ‘suspicious’ after Widdecombe’s body was discovered with serious injuries at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor on Thursday.

Following a manhunt, an arrest has been made, and a 26-year-old male suspect is currently in custody. He was detained just a short distance from where the late politician lived.

As tributes continue to flood in for Widdecombe and fellow political figures express their shock, broadcaster Boulton has gone viral for his bizarre ‘spinster’ rant.

Appearing on Sky News this evening, the 67-year-old Times Radio presenter weighed in on the murder probe developments.

‘She was very much a spinster. By the end, I think you’d probably describe her as an old maid,’ he began, going on to speak about her romance with Colin Maltby, after which she revealed she had never fallen in love again.

‘Reportedly, she claimed that she was a virgin. She had a relationship at university; she went to Oxford University, into an all-women’s college, of course, where people like Edwina Currie knew her as well.

‘She had a chaste but doomed relationship with a man, who is now a banker, and really, from that point on, she was not interested in having personal relationships and very much dedicated herself to her activities.’

Boulton added that once Widdecombe left parliament, she developed a ‘unique’ career as a television personality, referring to her 2010 stint on Strictly Come Dancing and her Celebrity Big Brother run in 2018.

‘There weren’t that many battling old ladies around,’ he commented.

‘She knew that the joke was partly on her, but she was very happy to play up to that, for the attention it gave her.’

He concluded: ‘She also embarked on a fairly successful writing career, writing books, as she put it, with no sex and violence in them. I think she also wrote a book about her cats as well.’

Following Boulton’s TV appearance, thousands took to social media to share the clip, with @NicholasLissack writing on X: ‘Disgraceful scenes on Sky News as a smirking Adam Boulton rants about Ann Widdecombe as a “spinster,” an “old maid” and a “virgin” while speculating about her private life.;

He branded what Boulton said as ‘misogynistic poison’.

@avivaelias called his comments ‘appalling’, writing: ‘Why is he so fixated on her single status? Would you EVER say that about a man in the same position?’

@ExpatCayman called Boulton’s description of Widdecombe ‘bottom of the barrel’, while @Isabelsauntie demanded an apology from the channel, penning: ‘this is absolutely vile. What an obnoxious man Adam Boulton is.’

‘What the hell is wrong with people. How do you come on TV after a murder and talk like this’, tweeted a baffled @LeilaniDowding.

Meanwhile, @writethewrongs2 argued that Widdecombe herself spoke about her private life publicly and how she never married nor had children, despite it not being something she ‘consciously abandoned’.

Still, she called her death a ‘horrific tragedy’.

‘But why are we talking about whether or not a 78-year-old is a virgin?’, probed @SashaRibobshkiy in response, with @VelvetBarstool echoing: ‘Women who never marry receive the most opprobrium and stigmatisation in our society. It’s awful.’

Boulton’s interview came shortly before Nigel Farage spoke out on the developments in Widdecombe’s death, saying he was ‘deeply, deeply upset’ by the news.

The Reform UK leader worked with Widdecombe when she became a Brexit Party MEP and subsequently a Reform UK spokeswoman.

He added: ‘Rest in peace, Ann. A remarkable, principled woman, and a truly dreadful way to die and a terrible reflection on modern Britain.

‘And I do fear that for anybody in public life, or especially the political space, things have become even more dangerous to them.’

Elsewhere, outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the security of politicians ‘is of the utmost importance’, stressing the necessity to ‘rise above political differences’.

On Friday evening, the current Labour leader refused to speculate when asked by reporters whether there was a political motivation behind the case.

Police said they have no reason to believe Widdecombe’s death was politically motivated. It has also been ruled out as terrorist-related.

The possibility of political beliefs being a motive for targeting Widdecombe arose from the fatal attacks on political figures in recent years.

In 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a man with links to far-right extremism, and, in 2021, Sir David Amess, a Conservative MP, was murdered by an Islamic State sympathiser.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch expressed her own disbelief at tonight’s news, saying: ‘I don’t understand how someone could do something so horrific to an elderly person. It was a nasty, horrific attack, and my heart is breaking for her family.

‘It’s one thing when someone dies, but to know that they’ve been murdered in this horrible way is just awful.’

Widdecombe served as a Tory MP for Maidstone and The Weald and the former Maidstone constituency from 1987 to 2010, after which she became a Brexit Party MP in 2019.

That year, she also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England for 12 months before joining Reform UK in 2023 as its immigration and justice spokesperson, a role she held until her death.

Widdecombe was famously outspoken with her political views, including during her time on Celebrity Big Brother, in which she placed second to drag queen Courtney Act and sparked viewer Ofcom complaints for voicing opinions on LGBTQ+ matters.

She labelled herself a social conservative with a focus on upholding traditional values. This included opposing abortion legislation while serving as an MP, plus opposing the repeal of Section 28.

Widdecombe also expressed support for reintroducing the death penalty, though in more narrow circumstances, and was opposed to all forms of assisted dying.