Things aren't looking rosy for the Tories, says Ann Widdecombe on visit to Walsall allotments
It's fair to say Ann Widdecombe won't be shedding many tears for West Midland Tory MPs who lose their seats at the General Election.
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"I'm surprised it's not more," she responds, when told that votes going to her Reform UK party will probably see Labour taking five Tory seats in the region when the poll is finally held.
As a former Tory stalwart, and veteran of the 1997 drubbing at the hands of Tony Blair's New Labour, does she not feel just a twinge of sadness that the party she represented for so many years is heading for electoral oblivion?
"We fell for that one before," she snorts, referring to Nigel Farage's decision to stand down candidates in many key marginal seats at the 2019 election.
"We ended up with a government that is the Labour Party in all but name.
"We have got record levels of crime, record levels of immigration and record levels of crime. This isn't a Conservative government.
"Can Reform hurt the Tories? Where are these Tories?"
Miss Widdecombe is visiting Goscote Community Garden in Walsall, with Elaine Williams, Reform UK's candidate at the next election. According to recent polling, the seat is likely to fall to Labour. How would the former minister feel if the party's share of the vote paved the way to Labour taking the seat?
"I think it will do nothing but good in the end, if we see the Conservatives become a rump at the next General Election," she says. "It will force them to confront where they are.
"I'm never comfortable with a Labour government, but I don't think it will make a lot of difference."
