Sunanda K. Datta-Ray | Murder Amid Churn of MPs: Never a Dull Moment in UK

Despite the mysterious murder of Ann Widdecombe, a 78-year-old retired British politician, it would be unfair to say in these dying days of Sir Keir Starmer’s prime ministership that his only legacy for his almost anointed successor, the former Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, is a surge in politically motivated crimes and threats.

True, crimes against Members of Parliament have risen by 87 per cent since 2023 to nearly 1,000 recorded incidents. Offences such as malicious communications, harassment, and criminal damage have also dramatically increased, sparking the creation of a specialised National Police Chiefs’ task force to protect politicians and candidates. In January, the Crown Prosecution Service said it was handling its highest ever number of hate crime referrals.

In addition to threats against elected officials, the broader category of religiously and racially motivated hate crimes across England and Wales (anti-Semitism, for instance) has also seen notable increases in recent years. But if Britain seems to be in turmoil, it is because of a host of connected circumstances including a series of short-lived and not very stable governments during a period of economic stagnation.

A veteran parliamentarian who once nursed ambitions of leading the Conservative Party, Ms Widdecombe was a feisty, garrulous, argumentative propagandist for hardline right-wing causes that were anathema to the younger generation. She and her kind blamed settlers from abroad for many of the problems that assail the UK, with the demographic evidence appearing to substantiate the charge. The prosperity Britain has attained partly perhaps through looting Afro-Asian colonies but also through hard work has created an attractive destination for migrants from all over the world.

With 813,000 people moving into the UK annually and 642,000 leaving it, the British government must cater to an additional 171,000 people every year. That means not only food and housing but education, Medicare, employment, recreation and full provision for retirement. The Welfare State, of whose benevolence we have no concept in an India that is a rich country of very poor people, if you exclude the Ambanis and the Adanis, does not permit cheeseparing with these entitlements. Nor are beneficiaries mocked and rejected as “ghuspetiyas”, meaning "intruders" or "infiltrators", to quote Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

At one time, Britain did hope to reduce the demographic pressure by sending asylum seekers who arrived via unauthorised routes, such as small boats, to Rwanda in Africa for processing and resettlement. The deal was never popular and only four migrants ever went to Rwanda. The scheme was ultimately scrapped in July 2024 and legally ended in June 2026. By then, it had cost the UK approximately £700 million.

Even more controversial is a recent suggestion by Suella Braverman, a former UK home minister, ironically of undiluted Indian ancestry on both sides, that former colonies should pay reparations to London for the "investment" made by the British Empire to raise their living standards. Not unexpectedly, the demand has ignited a political storm, especially since it came amid renewed calls from Caribbean nations for Britain to compensate descendants of slaves. Their complaint -- also still frequently heard in India -- is that far from investing in the future, the empire drained millions of dollars from the colonies.

There have been several such attempts in the past, the most notable being in 2007 when a Malaysian Indian organisation, the Hindu Rights Action Force, filed a $4 trillion (£2 trillion) class-action lawsuit in London on behalf of two million Malaysian Indians seeking compensation for British atrocities, exploitation of indentured labourers, and subsequent neglect.

Among less conventional complaints is the scandal of the so-called “grooming gang” in the north-western mill town of Rochdale, where Pakistani-origin men reportedly ran a form of prostitution exploiting English girls who had been inducted into the business at a young age. The convicted ringleader, Shabir Ahmed, who was jailed in 2012 for multiple child offences, has been released from prison on licence, triggering outrage and renewed calls for his deportation to Pakistan. Ahmed, known as “Daddy” by his victims, served part of a 22-year sentence before being released under strict licence conditions. According to reports, he now lives in 24-hour supervised accommodation and is monitored with a GPS electronic tag. Victims have expressed fear over his release, saying they feel unsafe.

Ms Widdecombe was MP from 1987 to 2010. She was a member of the Brexit Party from 2019 and served as the member of the European Parliament for South West England from 2019 to 2020. Like Ms Braverman, she, too, joined the Reform UK party and served as its Immigration and Justice spokesperson from 2023 until her death in 2026. The death itself seems to have been brutal and utterly senseless, the victim being found with serious injuries in her isolated country cottage and no sign of motive or murderer. Explaining that there is no indication of political or terrorist grounds, the baffled police, who have arrested a 28-year-old man in South Yorkshire in connection with the killing, reminds the public that all kinds of disagreements should be settled through debate and at the ballot box, not through intimidation or violence.

Given the victim’s known views and the current climate in Britain, which is said to favour non-white foreigners, especially Muslims, the killing has sparked some mildly sick humour. The police claim that the killer is “white British” prompted the response: “That's bad news for the memory of Ms Widdecombe ... She could have become a national hero if he had been a black or Muslim!” Another crack has it that two old dears met at the bus stop: “I hear that Ann, oh, what's her name, the politician? was stabbed today”, says the first. Trying to jog her memory with the name, the other old biddy replies: “Widdecombe”? Pat comes the reply: “No, with a knife”.

But the game goes on with Nigel Farage, the Reform UK politician who claims to have achieved Brexit almost single-handed as the stellar player. He has just resigned from Parliament to precipitate a by-election, which others are trying to dismiss by calling the whole sequence a “circus” (Labour), “fake by-election” (Conservatives) and “Farage's vanity project” (Lib Dem). However, as Reform UK's Robert Jenrick told the BBC: If other parties are “too chicken to stand, that says more about them than us”. Even in turmoil, especially in turmoil, there’s never a dull moment in British politics.