Andrew Neil slams Labour minister over ‘sick’ Widdecombe comment – ‘resigning matter!’.VA
Calls have been made for the Minister for Safeguarding Women Against Violence to resign after she deleted a comment following Ann Widdecombe’s killing.
Broadcaster Andrew Neil called on the Labour Minister for Safeguarding Women Against Violence to resign, after she was forced to delete an online comment following Ann Widdecombe’s killing. Natalie Fleet had initially responded to Miss Widdecombe’s death by making a comment online which appeared to take aim at Reform UK MPs.
The 42-year-old Labour MP sparked fury online with the comment, only to then delete it and apologise. But veteran political commentator Andrew Neil broadsided the MP writing “aren’t you the minister for safeguarding women against violence? And you have to apologise for what you tweeted after a fellow female politician was violently murdered?”
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Mr Neil, who has enjoyed a long career on British Television as a hard-hitting interviewer, went on to ask “isn’t that a resigning matter?” Ms Fleet has been the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls since May this year, a role which is intended to see her help tackle violence.
But in her now deleted online comment, made on the social media platform X, the Bolsover MP said she was “sick of the faux outrage” from “Nigel Farage & his gang of bin men” who were demanding to “get the same security as the rest of us.” She claimed that “none of them cared when a senior Reform UK politician was sharing my death threats!”
She would go on to delete the online comment saying: “Apologies for offence caused by my earlier tweet, which I’ve now deleted. My thoughts are – as they have always been – with Ann Widdecombe’s loved ones at this awful time.”
Apologies for offence caused by my earlier tweet, which I’ve now deleted. My thoughts are – as they have always been – with Ann Widdecombe’s loved ones at this awful time.
— Natalie Fleet MP (@NatalieFleetMP) July 13, 2026
Reform UK MP Suella Braverman took to social media to say Ms Fleet was “part of the problem.”
She wrote: “This is the UK’s Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women. A former female MP has just been murdered and some Labour MPs just can’t help themselves online.”
Miss Widdecombe was found dead in her Dartmoor home last week, and a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder – with counter terror police now examining the case.
