The BBC was under fire today after inviting a left-wing activist who said ‘a lot of people won’t be grieving’ Ann Widdecombe’s death onto its Politics Live show.
Daze Aghaji, 26, a climate campaigner with strong ties with Extinction Rebellion, chose to dwell on political divides over condemning the act of barbaric violence.
Ms Widdecombe, 78, was cruelly murdered in her home on Wednesday, with officers questioning a 28-year-old man from Rotherham and counter-terror police now leading the investigation.
But Aghaji, appearing on BBC 2’s Politics Live show on Monday, said it would ‘go amiss not to mention’ what she thought about the former Tory minister’s views.
Several commentators were in disbelief that the BBC had chosen Aghaji at such a delicate moment, likely knowing the opinions she would put forward.
Former Reform parliamentary candidate Matt Goodwin said it was ‘outrageous to show this on the BBC in the aftermath of Ann’s death’, branding the decision ‘truly sickening’ and of ‘zero class’.
Reform activist Allison Pearson was similarly stunned by the ‘insensitivity and arrogance on display’.
Aghaji, speaking before the revelation that counter-terror police were leading the murder investigation, said: ‘There is a lot of controversy around how she lived her political life.
Daze Aghaji, 26, was invited onto BBC 2’s Politics Live on Monday, where she said a lot of people would not be grieving the murder of Ann Widdecombe
The other guests on the show, shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston, centre, and Labour MP Jess Asato, left, were visibly unsettled by her comments
Aghaji is a climate activist who has strong ties to Extinction Rebellion and appeared on the 2024 series of Big Brother
‘It would go amiss to not mention that she pushed against LGBTQ+ rights throughout all of her career.
‘I would also feel like it’s time to say that she also said a lot of things about the victims of Harvey Weinstein through Me Too. She said they chose it, upon themselves. And she was vehemently anti-abortion.
‘So I feel like even though what’s happened is absolutely awful, there are a lot of people who won’t be grieving this.’
Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston, also on the sofa alongside Labour MP Jess Asato, was visibly unsettled by Aghaji’s rant – and told her should would ‘regret’ it.
Nigel said: ‘To be honest, I’m a bit shocked to hear that, and I think you will regret what you just said there.
‘A lady has been murdered. Many of the points she made were grounded in her faith. Respect her views.
‘I’m really sad to be sitting on a chair here today next to you. I’m quite uncomfortable sitting next to you after what you’ve just said.’
Refusing to back down, Aghaji charged on: ‘As someone who is queer, my rights have been affected by her speeches.
Ms Widdecombe was killed in her home on Wednesday last week, and discovered 24 hours later
The suspect was captured on CCTV leaving his property shortly before 8am on Wednesday with what appears to be a pole in the pocket of his shorts
‘She has been a part of Reform, which as someone who had to live through what were race riots last year – her actions have contributed to a lot of my community having very difficult lives.’
Ms Asato also turned on Aghaji, advising her: ‘At this time, it’s sometimes important to just stop and reflect.’
Aghaji, a climate activist who describes herself as a ‘folklorist, herbalist and forager’, elsewhere in the programme refused to back changing the law to deport Shabir Ahmed – the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang recently released from prison.
She said it would be unfair to ‘move the goalposts’ for immigrants, despite the fact that foreign criminals are routinely deported – and it is a unique piece of legislation currently blocking Ahmed’s deportation.
In the past, Aghaji has had strong ties with Extinction Rebellion – the radical environmentalist group notorious for blocking roads and occupying public buildings.
She was the youngest candidate to stand in the 2019 European parliamentary election as a Climate and Ecological Emergency Independent candidate – though was unsuccessful.
Aghaji later admitted she was ‘scared’ by the prospect of actually becoming an MEP, and ‘so happy that [she] came nowhere near winning the seat’.
She also appeared as a contestant on Big Brother in 2024, but was the second of 16 housemates to be voted out.
Aghaji is not the first hard-left figure to draw fury with their responses to Ms Widdecombe’s murder.
Transgender former Labour candidate Heather Herbert, who celebrated her death and said she hoped she had ‘screamed in agony’, is now being investigated over the comments.
Ms Herbert, a web developer at Aberdeen University, relished the ‘good news’ of the former Tory MP’s death in a vile post on BlueSky.
Former Scottish Labour candidate Heather Herbert, a web developer at Aberdeen University, relished the news of Ann Widdecombe’s death online
Ms Herbert doubled down on her comments even after the murder investigation was made public
She wrote: ‘Some good news for once. I hope it was an extremely painful death, adding: ‘I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony.’
Piers Morgan described the backlash as ‘despicably cruel, heartless and abusive’, and said it had reminded him ‘that the least kind people on earth are ironically those on the #BeKind woke Left’.
Ms Widdecombe was found dead in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor on Thursday, where police believe she had lain for around 24 hours.
Officers initially focused on a theory that she had disturbed a burglar at her home in Haytor, Dartmoor, even though nothing had been taken from the £600,000 property.
Two days after the murder, detectives arrested a local labourer in error, before later detaining a 28-year-old man 270 miles away in Rotherham on Saturday night.
Now, the Mail has learnt that items of varying political ideology, including Russian material, have been found at the suspect’s home and on electronic devices.
But investigators do not believe there is any evidence of hostile state involvement.
Counter terrorism police are investigating whether the ‘lone wolf’ targeted Ms Widdecombe due to her political views, which she frequently expressed during regular appearances on TV and radio defending Reform as the party’s immigration and justice spokesman.
Floral tributes have been left on the grass outside Ms Widdecombe’s bungalow in Haytor, Dorset
The former Strictly contestant was well known for her beliefs, including opposition to abortion and gay rights.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed yesterday that the British white suspect, who the Mail is not naming, was not known to the Government’s deradicalisation programme, Prevent.
Police are making inquiries about his mental health.
Officers believe the murder on Wednesday may have been premeditated. The accused is not thought to have known the victim, whose home had featured on a TV programme broadcast just days before her death.
The unmarried former MP, who has lived alone since her retirement in 2010, was last seen on a Talk TV show around 8am on Wednesday.
She had been scheduled to appear on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show that afternoon but suddenly stopped responding to WhatsApp exchanges with a producer.
Police believe she was attacked at around 12.30pm, nearly 24 hours before she was found by her gardener.
Devon and Cornwall Police waited more than 24 hours to announce a murder investigation, before Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said on Friday night: ‘The incident is not being treated as terrorism.’
When asked if Ms Widdecombe had been targeted because of her politics, he replied: ‘No… it’s early stages of the investigation. I’ve got no information to believe that it is a politically motivated crime.’
