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Allison Pearson’s double standards

The Telegraph columnist lashed out at Adam Boulton for calling Ann Widdecombe a "spinster" - but reserved the right to use similar language herself

Allison Pearson, writer for the Telegraph. Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images

The appalling murder of Ann Widdecombe left many of her media admirers understandably upset – but the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson took things harder than most.

The columnist lashed out at Adam Boulton for calling Widdecombe an “old maid” and a “spinster” in a Sky News discussion of her death – before its awful details were revealed.

Though Bolton posted that he was sorry, Pearson wrote: “Apology not accepted… it was unforgivable.” She did not, however, attack the pundit who called Widdecombe “the Hattie Jacques of the Commons… a matron of honour” – probably because that phrase appeared in her own obituary for the former MP.

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