Aniefiok Christopher
Two prominent political figures – American Senator Lindsey Graham and British Ann Widdecombe – died over the weekend.
Graham, elected as a Republican for South Carolina to the Senate in 2002, died Saturday night, his office confirmed early Sunday.
Widdecombe, a former British lawmaker and former Tory Minister, was found dead with serious injuries at her home Thursday.
Aged 71, Graham, a close political ally of President Donald Trump, died “from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement.
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“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement said.
Graham was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was seeking a fifth six-year Senate term in November.
He was one of the most well-known members of the chamber and a key voice within the party on defense and foreign policy.
President Donald Trump led tributes Sunday to “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known,” describing Graham as a “true American Patriot” in a Truth Social post.
At the White House, flags were lowered to half-staff. In a later post on Truth Social, Trump ordered that all American flags must fly at half-staff until Saturday at 6 p.m.
His office said Sunday that the preliminary cause of death was “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” or a rupture of his aorta due to a hardening of his arteries.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., paid tribute to a “strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Graham had been “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend.”
Former President George W. Bush said Graham “understood how the world works and how important America’s international engagement is to resist tyranny.”
According to South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint someone to fill Graham’s seat until Jan. 3 of next year.
In June, Graham defeated multiple primary challengers to secure the nomination for a fifth term, with the election set for November.
South Carolina Republicans must now find a replacement nominee for that race, with a special primary expected by Aug. 11 under the state’s election laws.
Graham was fresh off a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and of the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement, noting that he had visited Ukraine 10 times during the war.
“We were in constant dialogue, which I will miss,” he said, adding that “in recent weeks he worked on important initiatives that could help bring peace closer, including strengthening sanctions against Russia.”
“He was a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the NATO Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told “Meet the Press” “America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance. And frankly, I’ve lost a beloved friend who I’ve had for many decades.”
Tehran’s state media celebrated Graham’s death, describing him as “warmongering” and “anti-Iranian.”
Graham grew up in the small town of Central, South Carolina, where his parents ran a restaurant and pool hall.
The first of his family to go to college, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina before embarking on a career in the military, serving in the U.S. Air Force as a lawyer.
Graham served a total of 33 years in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and South Carolina Air National Guard, fulfilling his reserve duties while holding his seat in Congress. He retired in 2015 at the rank of colonel.
Graham first arrived in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives, where he served from 1995 to 2003.
He ran for Senate in 2002, winning the South Carolina seat previously held by the retiring Strom Thurmond.
He found allies for his foreign policy positions in the upper chamber, befriending Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., dubbed the “Three Amigos” for their shared hawkish stances.
In the Trump era, Horowitz added, “his foreign‑policy leverage shifted from shaping broad Senate consensus to shaping Trump’s own instincts, using loyalty and flattery to keep hard‑line positions on Iran, Ukraine and Syria in the room even as the party’s base turned more inward.”
Graham was initially a critic of Trump’s, whom he briefly ran against during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, warning:
“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.” Graham even voted for a third-party candidate for president in 2016, saying he could not support either Trump or Hillary Clinton.
The pair’s relationship had evolved in the intervening decade, with Graham frequently praising Trump while sometimes pressing him on policy decisions. In an interview with NBC News in February, he called himself the president’s “North Star.”
“We disagree, but he knows where I am coming from,” Graham said of the president. “He sees me helping him as much as anybody in the Senate.”
Widdecombe murdered
Widdecombe, 78, was one of Britain’s most recognizable politicians, serving as a Conservative member of Parliament for two decades before reinventing herself as a television personality.
Known for her strong socially conservative views on abortion and LGBTQ rights, she more recently served as justice spokesperson for the hard-right Reform UK party.
The death has renewed unease about the safety of Britain’s politicians after two others were killed in the last decade.
On Sunday, police said a 28-year-old man had been arrested in northern England on suspicion of murder. “At this time, there is still no information to suggest that this is a terrorism related incident,” the force said.
Detectives remain “open-minded” as to potential motive, but there is no evidence to suggest the killing was politically motivated, the force added.
A 26-year-old man who was previously arrested on suspicion of murder had been released and was no longer part of the investigation, police said Saturday.
“Our murder enquiry is in its early stages but moving at a significant pace. We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened,” Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman of Devon and Cornwall Police said.
Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was “shocking news,” while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “stunned” and “really struggled to find the words.”
Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, said the circumstances of Widdecombe’s death were “extremely distressing” and urged the public “to avoid speculation and allow the police investigation to progress.”
But Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, said he feared that “for anybody in public life, or especially the political space, things have become even more dangerous to them.”
“We don’t know what political motives are, whether they exist at all,” he said. “Was it a burglary gone wrong? We just don’t know.”
Farage received a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift in early 2024 from crypto billionaire donor Christopher Harborne, which he initially said in June 2026 was for his personal security, adding that he will need protection “until the day that I die.” He later said the gift was “unconditional.”
Britain’s parliamentary standards commissioner is investigating whether Farage broke the rules by not declaring the gift, which was made months before he became a member of Parliament.
For others, Widdecombe’s death sparked memories of the murders over the last decade of politicians Jo Cox and David Amess.
Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, said Widdecombe’s death brought back “all of the pain and emotion” of losing his wife, a Labour MP who was murdered in 2016.
Cox, 41, known for social justice campaigns and seen as a rising star in Britain’s Labour Party, was stabbed 15 times and received three gunshot wounds in a 2016 attack outside her constituency office in the town of Birstall in West Yorkshire, northern England.
Five years later, Conservative lawmaker Amess was stabbed multiple times in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group. Ali Harbi Ali was given a whole-life sentence for the murder in 2022.
