Quotes from Ann Widdecombe

That's the joy of retirement - you're not trying to develop a career any more.

I can't hear rhythm.

Example and general milieu, once considered so important in the nurture of children, are sacrificed on the altars of the false god we call free choice but which imprisons us all in a collective moral paralysis and delivers an anarchy that the State itself shrinks from challenging.

I shall not miss the hectoring and backbiting and the lack of generosity towards fallen foes, but I will miss the sheer clubability of parliament. If one fancies a coffee or a meal or a drink then it is always possible to find at least one person out of 646 whose company is congenial.

Parliament was an institution of enormous standing when I was aspiring to go in. It isn't now.

The first visit I made to Australia was in 1996 when I was the prisons' minister and was looking at other countries' penal systems.

We did it! Britain is no longer a member of the European Union. By 'we' I mean the 17.4 million Britons who voted Leave, Nigel Farage who fought for the cause for 25 years, Brexit Party MEPs, Tory Party members who were brave enough to desert their party in droves at the Euro-elections and, of course, the Daily Express.

Well, I spent 23 years in politics, and bits of that were fun.

It would be nonsense to try to suggest that somebody who tried to rouse 2,000 people to their feet - which is what I used to do at conference - doesn't have any element of exhibitionism about them.

Believing in God was something I took as much for granted as the air I breathed. Religion wasn't something that came out of a box on Sunday.

I am so used to seeing a blond in the mirror that I forget that for most of my life I was very dark. Old photos are still a bit of a shock.

Car horns were invented to warn other drivers of your presence, not to express displeasure or greetings.

I was walking across King's Cross station when a drunken Irishman came stumbling up and flung his arms around me. He wanted to thank me for the peace process in Northern Ireland.

In politics there is no right answer - and no final answer.

The abuse of children is the worst offence that anybody can commit.

I think a sense of family, of commitment to family, and of helping each other and standing by each other, are essential. I pity anyone who doesn't grow up with that.

My detractors, who delight in using my name as a byword for unattractiveness, will find it hard to believe, but looking in the mirror is a pleasant experience.

Of course Meghan Markle wasn't driven out of this country by racism. It is a ludicrous claim and symptomatic of how ridiculous the must-be-offended-at-all-costs brigade has become.

Commerce and politics do not go with royalty, full stop.

I don't have a problem with other people having different faith; my problem is if we confuse respecting that with surrendering our own faith.

All of us, whether public figures or private individuals, should feel safe in our own homes and not fear surveillance from nosy neighbours.

If we deny our culture and become nothing and everything, that weakens us.

We need less political correctness and more political courage.

For most of my political life I was not ecstatic but I was happy because I had huge confidence in the causes I espoused and the work I was doing. Even under extreme pressure I was satisfied that I was fighting a good fight.