Devon and Cornwall Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe, the Reform UK spokeswoman and former Conservative minister, who was found dead at her Dartmoor home on Thursday morning BBC. She was 78 CNN.

Police said Widdecombe was found with "serious injuries" i. The force confirmed the investigation was formally opened on Friday AP/SFGate. Detectives have appealed for information about a white male suspect seen in connection with her death Telegraph. No further detail on his description, movements or any arrest has been made public.

Widdecombe's career spanned four decades in frontline politics. She served as a Conservative MP for Maidstone, and later Maidstone and The Weald, holding ministerial office including at the Home Office under John Major, before leaving the Commons in 2010. She resurfaced in recent years as a spokeswoman for Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage, having crossed from the Conservatives to the Brexit Party in 2019. Her switch between parties, and her long record as a socially conservative voice on issues from capital punishment to assisted dying, made her one of the more recognisable figures in British public life well beyond Westminster — a status reinforced by a stint on Strictly Come Dancing.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, issued a statement responding to the investigation, describing his shock at the news BBC. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, also issued a statement expressing shock BBC. Both statements were framed as personal reactions to a death under investigation as murder, rather than substantive comment on the police inquiry itself — standard practice for serving political leaders when a criminal investigation is live and details are limited.

The Associated Press, in a wire report bylined to Brian Melley, carried the story to international outlets including SFGate and the Michigan's Thumb, describing the death as "suspicious" ahead of the murder investigation's confirmation AP.

Devon and Cornwall Police cover a large, sparsely populated rural policing area, and Dartmoor itself is a national park spanning isolated moorland and scattered settlements — geography that has historically complicated evidence-gathering in serious crime inquiries in the region. No further operational details, such as the precise location within Dartmoor, the time Widdecombe's body was discovered, or who found her, have yet been released by the force.

The involvement of two national party leaders at this early stage is notable chiefly for what it signals about Widdecombe's standing rather than for any political content in their remarks. Both Starmer and Badenoch's interventions were confined to expressions of personal shock, a convention that holds regardless of party when a prominent public figure's death becomes a criminal matter. Reform UK has not yet issued its own formal statement beyond what has been reported through Westminster channels, though given Widdecombe's role as the party's spokeswoman, a fuller response from Farage or the party leadership would ordinarily be expected once police have released more information.

What remains unclear, and will shape coverage in the coming days, is the sequence of events between Widdecombe last being seen and her body being found on Thursday morning, and the precise nature of the "serious injuries" police have described. Devon and Cornwall Police have not confirmed a cause of death, nor detailed what evidence underpins the appeal for information about the white male suspect. Until forensic and post-mortem findings are made public, the investigation is likely to remain in its early, information-gathering phase — the stage at which police appeals for witnesses and CCTV or dashcam footage from the Dartmoor area would typically be expected to follow.