Ann Widdecombe: forthright, honest, but never unkind

Ann Widdecombe was always a hard act to follow, but the demands on her time meant she was also a difficult act to get onto the stage in the first place. You knew however, if only you could get her out in front of that crowd, she would be brilliant. It took us 12 months to get her over to speak in Dublin — even with the help of a mutual friend who was her sponsor when she became a Roman Catholic.

The problem was Ann’s schedule. “I have asked Harriet [Ann’s agent] to see what she can do,” she wrote to David in July 2014. “But we never turn anyone down lightly. We will revisit the diary but I cannot promise what isn’t free, not even for the Pope himself,” she declared.

Destined

We were not destined to succeed that year. So we settled for June 2015. By then we had the idea of ‘Ceiliúradh Cois Life’, an annual dinner to support the education work of the Pro Life Campaign. Ann was the event’s inaugural speaker, addressing about 500 people in the Mansion House. It was an evening to remember. She rocked the house.

It was not in a constituency office that the murder took place. It was in the sanctuary of her home, her country residence for her (semi) retirement that she called ‘Widdecombe’s Rest’”

And now she is dead. It’s nearly five years since her friend, David Amess MP, was murdered in a frenzied attack in his constituency office. Like Ann, he was a classic English Tory, a Brexiteer, a staunch defender of the unborn child and a committed animal welfarist. Ann gave the eulogy at his funeral, and I sent a message of sympathy to her at the time, knowing that Sir David had been an ally and friend both to her and other MPs in their pro-life efforts in Westminster.

Fate

It’s hard to believe that Ann would suffer a similar fate to her friend. Except this time it was not in a constituency office that the murder took place. It was in the sanctuary of her home, her country residence for her (semi) retirement that she called ‘Widdecombe’s Rest’.

When I met her in London and subsequently in Dublin, I found her to be matter-of-fact, pleasant and fun”

I never got to know her well. She was not in instinctive sympathy with Irish political concerns or ways, though her maternal grandfather was from Cork. But there was much to admire in her faith, fearlessness and her willingness to speak up for the most defenceless of human beings. Both when I met her in London and subsequently in Dublin, I found her to be matter-of-fact, pleasant and fun. For her short stay in Ireland, my uncle-in-law volunteered to pick her up at the airport and drove her around (my car being unreliable and his car being clean). “She’s only a tiny little thing,” he would say, fascinated that someone so petite could be so formidable. Ann took calling him ‘Uncle’ as we drove around.

Her sharpness of tone could mislead. On a BBC programme she took Melvyn Bragg up on a point in her usual, ‘no prisoners’ way. “I should be able to say that without incurring your wrath,” Bragg objected. “You have not incurred my wrath,” Ann came back, quick as a flash. “You simply incurred my comment.”

Forthright

And that was her. Forthright but honest, blunt but not unkind. There was humility too. She knew she could cut an absurd figure in ways, but by playing up to that she created space for affection, so that her deepest convictions could be heard and considered by all but the most prejudiced.

When a friend of mine, Tom, was murdered over a decade ago, I reflected on how good and even saintly people are sometimes visited with a terrifying, violent death. There is nothing new there in human history. I hoped then, as I hope now, that God truly fits the back for the burden. And that in the moment of torment his angels are there, to sustain and support, when he allows those who are already his friends to share something of the misery of his own passion and death.

May Ann Widdecombe rest in peace, may she be long remembered, and may all who loved her be consoled.

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Last week the Seanad passed the Second Stage of the Protection of Children (Online Age Verification) Bill, which I introduced with the support of fellow independents and two Fianna Fáil Senators. This Bill is a long way yet from the statute books. The point of it is to put pressure on the Government to take more seriously the problem of children and adolescents having near unfettered access to pornography on the internet.

The Bill would make it a criminal offence if “website controllers” fail to ensure that online pornographic content is not accessible to any underage person in the State. The age verification rule would also apply to app store services and to any “provider of an online service that facilitates the creation or generation of pornographic content online, including by way of the use of Artificial Intelligence”.

Big tech platforms want to equivocate on standards and children are gaining access to pornography. And there is no doubt about the harm this is doing”

It is true that Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, has issued an Online Safety Code which deals with certain platforms on online safety issues, and imposes requirements around ‘age assurance’ where pornography is concerned. But is it working? Under current arrangements, only those organisations with their EU headquarters in Ireland come under the remit of the regulator. Also, the platforms have a certain amount of discretion as to how to carry out age assurance.

Something more is needed. Big tech platforms want to equivocate on standards and children are gaining access to pornography. And there is no doubt about the harm this is doing. Pornography stunts emotional and sexual maturing, affects young people’s mental health and promotes violent attitudes to sex and relationships. Exposure to pornography online has an addictive dimension; many who watch it online go on to more and more violent and extreme viewing.

Uninspiring

Though the Government would not dare to oppose our Bill, the Ministerial response in the Seanad last week was uninspiring. There was a lot about EU regulatory power, about forthcoming measures from the Government about age verification and, most worryingly, a lot about ‘privacy’ concerns.

I think the principle should be simple. If we have to tolerate pornography on the internet (and that should be a very big ‘if’), the privacy rights of adults who freely decide to view it should never come before whatever it takes to ensure, as far as humanly possible, that children can’t normally access it online.

In some American states, and more recently in France, it was reported that certainly pornography providers had withdrawn their services because of the onerous nature of age verification requirements. Sadly, we are nowhere near that in Ireland yet. Please lobby your politicians, especially those in Government, to support this principle: that if people are providing pornography online, they will have committed a criminal offence in this State if they fail to carry out strict age verification and to ensure that minors cannot access such content.