Few Catholic politicians have occupied quite the place in Britain’s public imagination that Ann Widdecombe did. Across several decades she remained one of the country’s most recognisable public figures: a parliamentarian, minister, broadcaster, author and campaigner whose unmistakable voice and uncompromising convictions made her admired by supporters and exasperating to critics in almost equal measure. Beneath the public persona, however, was a convert whose Catholic faith increasingly became the thread running through both her political life and her understanding of public service.