MAIDSTONE and Weald Tory MP Ann Widdecombe has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London - an ancient title awarded to people of good character.

Miss Widdecombe, can now get up to all sorts in the capital, including herding her sheep over London Bridge unchecked, being hung with a silk rope if convicted of murder, and walking around with a drawn sword. She also has the right to stagger around the city drunk without fear of arrest.

Although in the modern world most of these privilileges are pretty useless, Miss Widdecombe said she was pleased to receive the title.

"I'm deeply honoured," she said, "but I have to wonder, as an MP for a part of Kent with long associations with sheep, if the rights over London Bridge could be of any use to my farming constituents."

Nowadays, the freedom has no real bearing on modern life, but is still taken up by about 1,800 people a year.

Miss Widdecombe was officially sworn in by the Remembrancer of the Corporation of London Paul Double.