Ann Widdecombe has been a popular celebrity recently. I saw her for 10 minutes or so on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. During those ten minutes she really made an impression. She came across as a confident, capable, down-to-earth, but more than anything, decisive. Where many people – including her celebrity teammate – would dither indecisively after discussing the options and coming to no clear conclusion, Ann was right in there with a decision once no more information was forthcoming, and she didn’t seem to regret one of them.
Decisiveness – or at least the ability to make decisions – is a trait often talked about in the context of great leaders. Very few people are both decisive and have good judgement. Even fewer also refuse to regret decisions already made, though this last skill is possibly the most important of the three. I have no idea if Ann Widdecombe regrets, and other people are better placed than I to judge if her decisions were good ones, but I was left in no doubt as to her decisiveness. British politics has truly lost a lion – one with the courage of her convictions.