Friday, August 21, 2009

Widdecombe 'not asked' to be Vatican ambassdor

Ann Widdecombe has played down reports that she has been approached to become the next British ambassador to the Vatican.

The Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald, who is standing down at the next election, was responding to reports in the national press that she was front-runner for the Holy See position.

“I have not heard a single official whisper,” she said. “All the comments have all come from my friends but I’m not sure about where it’s come from.

“It is something you are approached for and I can assure you that I have not been approached.”

She said if was asked about the position the county’s press would be the first to know, but she refused to be drawn on whether it was a role she would like to hold.

Ms Widdecombe, who is fluent in Latin the official language of the Vatican, met with the previous Pope after her conversion to Catholicism over the issue of women priests in 1993.

The current ambassador is Francis Campbell and the post is expected to become vacant around the same time as the election, which has fuelled speculation that it could go to Ms Widdecombe.

Lord Alton, a leading Roman Catholic peer, said there was already talk of who would be the next ambassador and “Ann Widdecombe’s name is at the front”.

David Amess, chairman of the all-party parliamentary groups on the Holy See, told the Telegraph: “Ann Widdecombe should not be lost to private life.

“She is a formidable lady with the intellect to match.”
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