Earlier this month Ms Widdecombe defended a sit-in she organised at a Commons committee, which interrupted progress of the government's Criminal Justice Bill. She said: "I have to say bluntly, we are being ruled by dictators..."

Following her controversial speech on the Tories' approach to cannabis at last October's party conference, eight members of the shadow cabinet admitted to having smoked cannabis themselves.

In the last government she was an outspoken prisons minister (she visited every single one).

Ms Widdecombe converted to Roman Catholicism over the ordination of women priests by the Church of England. She is strongly anti-abortion and sits firmly on the right on most issues, although she is anti-hunting.

A diligent attendee at the Commons, she is regarded as a formidable parliamentarian whom MPs come in to hear.

She is now something of a cult figure and television star.

She has degrees from Margaret Lady Hall, Oxford University.