Suspect was not known to the Prevent anti-extremism programme, the home secretary told MPs
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The murder of veteran politician Ann Widdecombe is being treated as an act of terrorism, police have said.
A 28-year-old man, who was arrested in Rotherham on Saturday, has since been re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Speaking to the Commons on Monday, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said he was not known to counter-terrorism programme Prevent, which supports people who are at risk of becoming involved with terrorism.
She also said that guidance would now be offered by police to MPs following Miss Widdecombe’s death.
Counter-terrorism police have claimed that “new information and evidence” had come to light, which meant they were now leading the investigation, after working alongside Devon and Cornwall Police after Ms Widdecombe was found dead with “serious injuries” in her Haytor residence at 11.40am on Thursday.
Head of national counter-terrorism policing, Laurence Taylor, said: “We are pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack.
“Our priority is progressing this investigation quickly, with all the capabilities we have available to us. If anyone has any information, please share it with the police.”
Nigel Farage has been accused of using the death of Ann Widdecombe as “political propaganda” after he said he believed the death of the former minister was “premeditated murder”.
A 28-year-old white British man was arrested on suspicion of murder in Rotherham, 260 miles away, on Saturday evening.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Farage paid tribute to Ms Widdecombe, telling reporters he did not believe her death was “a burglary that went wrong” and said a car had appeared on her drive at around 12.25pm on Wednesday.
Former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, who was a close friend of Ms Widdecombe, told The Times: “Ann Widdecombe was far too dear to her family, friends and former colleagues for her murder to be exploited as political propaganda.
“The police have expressly asked the public not to speculate about the motive. It is therefore deeply disappointing that Nigel Farage has chosen to do precisely that.”
On Monday, counter-terrorism police claimed that “new information and evidence” had come to light, which meant they were now leading the investigation.
Reform UK board member Gawain Towler told reporters the police had attempted to “massage public opinion” by previously saying there was “nothing to suggest” the suspected murder of Ann Widdecombe was politically motivated.
Visiting Haytor Vale in Devon to pay tribute to Ms Widdecombe on Monday, Mr Towler said: “In the past, they’d have said all avenues of investigation are open but this time they tried to close out avenues of the investigation, and it appears they’ve reopened them.
“In a time when trust in the police is at an all time low, this just plays into that they are trying to massage public opinion rather than do the job of investigating a brutal murder. We saw it with Henry Nowak, we saw it with Southport.
“By appearing to rule something out and then a few days later bringing it back in, they look manipulative and that’s a shame.
“What they should have said is all avenues of investigation are open. Not rule anything in, not rule anything out. That is what they always used to do.
“So why did they try and close some line of thinking out? Because they wanted to massage public opinion.
“And I’m sorry, but that when there’s so little faith in their activities these days, they now look, even if they haven’t been, they now look as if they’re trying to manipulate the public’s view and that’s an appalling place for the police to be.
“And it’s such a shame; my grandfather was a copper, I believed wholeheartedly that the police were a good thing as I grew up. Now I don’t trust them an inch and that’s a shame.”
Nigel Farage has said he will meet with the chair of RAVEC, the independent body within the Home Office that manages the security of those in public life, following an offer made by Shabana Mahmood.
In a post on X he wrote: “Thank you for this offer @ShabanaMahmood. I will meet with the Chair of RAVEC and discuss the security of all Reform politicians, including those who are not MPs.”
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said MPs’ security concerns are treated equally and are “passed on to the security people to deal with”.
He told MPs: “Every member of Parliament is equal in their security to me – there is no difference between any member, I want to reassure you.
“When things are brought to my attention – because we don’t discuss security, I don’t put out there what is happening, what has been done – but I reassure everybody that when it is mentioned to me, it is passed on to the security people to deal with.
“Unfortunately, I’m sorry that people don’t think I do that.”
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, on Sunday claimed in a post on X that Sir Lindsay, the Government and the police did not “care at all about the security of Reform MPs”.
Dame Karen Bradley, the Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said she wanted to “thank Staffordshire Police” for contacting her over the weekend and visiting her home to review her security.
“I know police forces across the country will be doing that and I’m very grateful to them for taking that time,” Dame Karen added.
Jeremy Vine struggled to hold back tears when speaking about the death of Ann Widdecombe.
During Monday’s episode of The Jeremy Vine Show, the TV presenter was joined by broadcaster Iain Dale, who was also a good friend of Ms Widdecombe.
Speaking on the Channel 5 programme, he told Vine: “Can I just say one more thing in that, I think you know that she loved your programme.
“She loved coming on it, she loved your viewers and she loved you.
“You were part of her family, and she really spoke very highly of you, and I know you went out of your way to be kind to her.”
The camera then cut to Jeremy, who was seen fighting back tears before saying: “Well, that’s too much to hear today.
“Thank you very much, Iain. Thank you so much.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has told the home secretary she must hold social media companies to account over the violent language used towards MPs online.
“The government and specifically the home secretary needs to specify to all those social media companies, they must do something to close down on the visceral violent language that some people use, attacking personally as they did over her murder, which has shocked me, to make sure we get on top of that, because that is the root of violence and death,” he said in the Commons on Monday afternoon.
“It is not only her who has been murdered, it is not only her or David Amis, my good friend who has been murdered,” he added.
“We have to be bold, we have to be clear, we will not accept being shut down, being stopped from our duties, or being silenced in any way because that is what Ann would have approved of.”
Nearly 1,300 former MPs could be offered new security guidance in the wake of Ann Widdecombe’s death, the home secretary has said.
Addressing the Commons on Monday afternoon, Shabana Mahmood told MPs police intend to offer guidance to current representatives, and that she will look at what guidance could be offered to those who have represented their constituencies in the past.
Research from the House of Commons library suggests there are around 1,300 living former MPs.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp urged the public not to speculate about the death of Ann Widdecombe because it makes the job of police harder and could prejudice a trial.
He said: “I’d like to thank the police for releasing the information they have so far, including about the identity of the suspect. It is always important to release as much information as possible in the interests of transparency and to avoid misinformation filling the void.”
On threats to those in public life, Mr Philp said: “We must redouble our efforts to ensure that public political figures who are MPs, and those like Ann who are not MPs, always receive the proportionate protection they need.”
He added that politicians should “set an example of civility and calm, and not inflame”.
Paying tribute to Miss Widdecombe, the shadow home secretary said: “She always fearlessly spoke her mind. She did not worry about whether her opinion would be popular or would be fashionable. She always said exactly what she believed and exactly what she thought. Her integrity and her fortitude were unmatched.”
Mr Philp concluded: “We need people to step up and become MPs and also speak in the public square. Debate and disagreement are what make our country great. Ann Widdecombe exemplified that every minute of her life.”
The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Reform UK’s Richard Tice asked the home secretary to ensure “that the counter-terrorism unit keep us updated on as regular as possible a basis”.
He added that “given the nature of these things… would it be wise, when considering motivation… to keep things being open-ended, as opposed to motive, as opposed to ruling things out too quickly, that may then end up being ruled back in?”
At the weekend Devon and Cornwall police said the case was “not being treated as terrorism” and there was “no information” at that time to suggest it was a “politically-motivated crime”.