Reform at war with the speaker, itself and the world more generally

Meanwhile, how have Reform politicians and their media backers responded? By lashing out, making defamatory claims, fighting among each other and generally indulging in the sort of nasty politics they have been at pains to praise Widdecombe for avoiding, of course!

Unsurprisingly, the conduct has been led by the charmless Zia Yusuf, the party’s self-styled ‘shadow home secretary’ despite not being an MP. He is a man who has never seen a room he hasn’t fancied an argument in.

Yusuf lashed out after Harvey Proctor, a former Tory MP and one of Widdecombe’s closest friends, accused Nigel Farage of exploiting her murder for “political propaganda” – after ignoring police advice not to speculate about it and then travelling from Kent to her isolated home on the edge of Dartmoor to pose for video cameras and discuss lines of inquiry with reporters.

Proctor told the Sunday Times that Farage’s public pronouncements were “deeply disappointing”, saying that “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.”

This prompted Yusuf to take to X with a screenshot of the headline “Nigel Farage accused of using Ann Widdecombe’s death as propaganda” and the message: “Disgraced former Tory MP Harvey Proctor worked with the Times to publish this disgusting headline.

“Given what has now come to light, it is in fact HE who has done the thing he accused Nigel of. What a depraved man. He must apologise now.”

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But Yusuf should know that Proctor is not disgraced. He was one of those accused by the convicted liar Carl Beech of being part of an abuse ring, something which he strongly denied, was found to be entirely innocent of and for which he was subsequently paid £900,000 in compensation from those behind the botched and entirely discredited Operation Midland.

Indeed, when the allegations against Proctor first came to light and many friends chose to abandon him, Widdecombe stood by his side. He wrote at the weekend: “Her support was never loud or theatrical. It was something far rarer. It was principled. 

“She offered practical advice and support, personal kindness and public solidarity when these things carried political cost rather than reward. She neither sought headlines nor applause. She simply believed that justice demanded it.”

Now, despite Proctor’s complete exoneration, Yusuf appears to have nudge-nudge, wink-wink repeated them all over again. Fortunately, if Proctor’s lawyers come knocking, the Reform man is known to have very deep pockets!

Meanwhile, Yusuf appears to have also fallen out with Richard Tice, the Reform deputy leader who he is said to detest only slightly less than he does Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick. 

Just hours after Yusuf branded House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle “a coward”, “a bully” and “a disgrace to his office” who did not care about the security of Reform MPs, Tice described Hoyle as “brilliant”.

In an angry rant on X on Monday, Yusuf wrote: “Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House, has no jurisdiction over me. I am not afraid of him.

“He is a bully who did not even reply to a letter from a female Reform MP pleading for assistance with security until after I revealed it. If this is not true then I invite him to deny it on the record rather than try and bully the very people he has let down.

“Instead he briefs the press like a coward. He is a disgrace to his office.”

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On the BBC’s Newsnight the same night, though, Tice rather let Yusuf down, saying: “I had discussions with the speaker in early January, including a letter when I said I feared something terrible and potentially fatal might happen.

“And the speaker has been brilliant. His resolute determination about ensuring the security of all MPs is robust.”

A rebuke to the motormouth Yusuf, who many in Reform are said to be concerned is becoming an increasing liability to the party? Last month he did let slip that he was yet to secure the nomination to run in a by-election for Reform, despite such an opportunity being in the gift of one man: Nigel Farage.

Finally, Reform’s loudest cheerleader in the print media, Allison Pearson, has been paying tribute to Widdecombe in her own unique way.

The Daily Telegraph columnist posted a video on X of Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell speaking about Widdecombe in the House of Commons, Powell saying: “We might not have agreed politically, but I always greatly admired and respected her outspokenness, her fearlessness and her ability not to take herself too seriously. 

“She was one of a kind, of the like that, frankly, we do not make any more. I think we can all agree on that. I hope that, at moments like this, we can come together across the House to talk about these issues with one voice.”

Was Pearson prepared to take Powell’s metaphorical hand, reach across the divide and talk about how to move forward together?

Er… no. “The hate against Reform has been propagated by Ed Davey, David Lammy (“Nazis”), Keir Starmer and every MP in the Commons who jeers and drowns out Farage when he tries to speak,” she wrote.

“The entire political and media class has blood on its hands.” What an absolute charmer she is!