The MP who succeeded Ann Widdecombe has called for a memorial to the 78-year-old to be installed in Parliament.

Helen Grant, who replaced Widdecombe as MP for Maidstone and the Weald in the 2010 general election, has written to the Speaker of the House of Commons for his support. The House of Commons has been approached for comment.

Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister turned Reform UK spokeswoman, was found dead at her home in Devon last week and a 28-year-old white British man has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Earlier this week, counter terrorism police said that she was killed in a “targeted attack”, adding that detectives were working to understand the motive.

Conservative MP Grant shared the letter in which she called Widdecombe “a formidable Parliamentarian” and a “committed public servant” who had “diligently served her communities for 23 years”.

She said: “Her lasting legacy is clearly demonstrated by the unifying sense of loss which has transcended party lines in recent days.

“So for that reason, and in light of the distressing circumstances of her passing, that we would like to see the House commemorate her with a physical marker of remembrance.”

Grant said the memorial would also be a cross-party acknowledgement of “the threat to our democracy that violence like this brings”.

The constituency of Maidstone and the Weald became Maidstone and Malling in 2024.

Widdecombe’s death comes after the murders of sitting MPs Jo Cox (Labour) and David Amess (Conservative), both of whom were awarded with memorial plaques in Parliament.

Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in 2016.

A coat of arms, designed by her two children, was incorporated in the memorial unveiled a year later.

Amess, who had served for Southend West in Essex since 1997, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021.

In 2023, a commemorative shield was installed a couple of seats away from where he used to sit in the chamber.

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