Something of the night about him

The phrase "something of the night about him" was a comment by UK Conservative Party politician Ann Widdecombe on her colleague Michael Howard in 1997. The two had previously worked together at the Home Office in John Major's second administation, where he was Home Secretary and she was Prisons Minister. However, their relationship broke down in 1995 when Widdecombe accused Howard of mistreating the Director General of HM Prison Service, Derek Lewis. Two years later, following the Conservative Party's losses at the 1997 General Election, when Howard stood for leader of the party, Widdecombe made a speech in parliament. Using the phrase to illustrate, in her view, Howard's worst personality traits, it caught the popular imagination and has been credited as contributing to Howard's failure to win. Since then, the phrase has been reused and adapted—not least by Howard himself—for other circumstances, and has been considered by academics from a philosophical, historical and linguistic dimension.