Sir David Amess was one of Westminster’s longest-serving MPs and known as a passionate champion of his Southend West constituency and a colourful and knowledgable presence in the House of Commons.
His stabbing was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of MPs who meet members of the public to discuss their concerns at constituency surgeries, usually on Fridays when they are free of parliamentary duties.
It came after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox as she left a surgery in her West Yorkshire constituency in 2016, the stabbing of East Ham MP Stephen Timms as he spoke to constituents in 2010 and a samurai sword attack on Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones, which killed an aide in Cheltenham in 2000.
Many MPs have only recently restarted face-to-face meetings after 18 months in which coronavirus restrictions have limited them to phone and video discussions.
Amid growing concern about their vulnerability to attack by terrorists, political opponents or angry members of the public, some have chosen to hold surgeries only in their own offices, where staff are present and panic buttons may be available.
But Sir David advertised today’s surgery in a Leigh-on-Sea church on social media, inviting all-comers to book a meeting with him.
Father-of-five Sir David, 69, was born in Plaistow, Essex, and first entered parliament in 1983 as MP for nearby Basildon, later moving to Southend West in 1997. His victory in Basildon in 1992 was seen as an early indicator of John Major’s surprise general election victory.
Firmly on the traditional right wing of the Conservative party, he served as an aide to Michael Portillo during the Thatcher and Major administrations, but has not reached ministerial rank himself.
Instead, he used the freedom of the backbenches to promote the interests of his constituency and to pursue personal concerns such as animal welfare and fuel poverty. He successfully ushered a bill banning cruel tethering of horses and ponies onto the statute book and was a strong supporter of the ban on fox-hunting.
Fellow MPs described him as an affable and effervescent figure, who was respected and liked by colleagues from all sides of the House for his parliamentary expertise and his dogged determination to shoe-horn references to Southend into debates.
As one of the most experienced MPs in the Commons, he served as a member of the Panel of Chairs, chairing committee sessions and Westminster Hall debates.
A devout Roman Catholic, he voted against liberalisation of laws on abortion and assisted suicide and consistently opposed same-sex marriage.
He was a long-standing eurosceptic and campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
As recently as last month, he spoke out about anti-social behaviour and violent crime, joining other MPs to warn of the dangers around one-punch assaults, which he said could have “a devastating and often life-threatening impact”.
Amess was famously spoofed in an episode of satirical TV show Brass Eye, where presenter Chris Morris hoodwinked him into filming a warning against the fictional drug “cake” – even asking a question about the supposed threat in the Commons.
He and wife Julia had one son and four daughters, including actress Katie Amess. He was knighted in 2015 for services to politics and public service.
