Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe has won a seat for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in a thumping European elections victory that wiped out both the Tories AND Labour in the South West.
The Brexit Party won an astonishing three MEPs in the region while the anti-Brexit Lib Dems increased their tally from zero to two.
Ashley Fox, the Conservative leader in the European Parliament, was ousted in a disaster for the Tories as the Conservative and Labour won no seats at all.
This seat had the biggest ‘characters’ in the contest.
Green MEP Molly Scott Cato retained her seat.
But Rachel Johnson, sister of Tory Boris, lost her bid to pick up a seat for pro-Remain outfit Change UK.
The new party won just 46,612 votes. There was a sardonic “yay” in the room as the result was announced.
Labour’s Andrew Adonis did not win his bid to gain a seat for his party as Labour lost out completely.
UKIP’s “rape joke” furore candidate Carl Benjamin, also lost his bid to win.
Ms Widdecombe, 71, announced she would stand as a candidate for the party last month after a lifetime of being a Conservative.
She was the party’s lead candidate in the South West.
Announcing her candidacy she said she was ditching her old party to “fire a very loud warning shot across the bows” of Westminster over is failure to deliver Brexit.
She has since become one of the party’s most popular campaigners, appearing at events across the UK.
The former shadow home secretary has been retired since 2010.
Ms Widdecombe said she was standing to show MPs to “get on with it” or see their seats “in danger”.
(Image: Anthony Devlin)
(Image: Getty Images)
She added: “Britain is an international laughing stock. Parliament is beyond parody, and the whole nation is fed up to the back teeth and just wants a resolution.
“I believe that if the Brexit Party can make enormous gains in the European elections and win overwhelmingly, that will send shockwaves – both in Labour heartlands and in Tory shires.”
