Widdecombe Suspect Charged Over a Terror Plot Against Farage
Joshua Kerry, 28, already charged in July with the murder of Ann Widdecombe, has been charged with one count of preparing acts of terrorism, including against the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The charge relates to activity alleged to have taken place between May 2024 and July 2026. Widdecombe, who was 78, was a former Conservative minister and a Reform UK spokeswoman.
The Home Secretary framed her response as a statement about the whole political class rather than one party. Shabana Mahmood said she knew the fresh charge would be “extremely concerning”, offered her “profound sympathies” to Mr Farage and his family, and added: “Let no one make any mistake: an attack on anyone in politics is an attack on us all.” The alleged window is unusually long — more than two years, from May 2024 to July 2026 — which points to a case built on preparation over time rather than a single episode, and it closes in the month Kerry was charged with the murder. Two allegations of this kind against one defendant, a completed killing of a party spokeswoman and an alleged plot against a party leader, will sharpen an argument already running about the protection afforded to people in public life. Nothing further can properly be said while the case is live. Watch the first hearing on the terrorism charge.