UK PM honours slain MP David Amess in parliament, says 'House has lost steadfast servant'

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 18 October led the sombre parliament in honouring the Conservative lawmaker David Amess who was stabbed to death while meeting with constituents at a church hall. The gruesome attack on the British lawmaker triggered questions over the protection of the politicians in the country especially with grappling extremism. Amess, as per The Associated Press, was targetted simply because he was a legislator and on Monday, Johnson honoured the slain lawmaker.

UK PM told the British MPs that “this House has lost a steadfast servant”. Johnson added, “Sir David was taken from us in a contemptible act of violence, striking at the core of what it is to be a Member of this House and violating the sanctity both of the church in which he was killed and the constituency surgery that is so essential to our representative democracy” while referring to the open meetings that lawmakers hold with the ones they represent in the parliament. 

On 15 October, a 25-year-old British man with Somali heritage, Ali Harbi Ali, who was arrested at the scene, stabbed Amess at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea in his own constituency surgery of Southend West in Essex. Ali was arrested under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of murder. Police have also said, as per AP, that the suspect might have had a “motivation linked to Islamist extremism”. Amess death sent shockwaves across the country.

As the UK’s House of Commons opened after a three-week break for a session, the lawmakers across all parties stood to recall the slain MP’s memories. Johnson even noted that Amess never really sought high office but “simply wanted to serve the people of Essex”. He was a popular legislator and had served in the British parliament for almost 40 years. Amess was even knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015.

Stabbings involving UK MPs

The latest attack on Amess came after a Labour MP, Jo Cox was killed on 16 June 2016. Cox was a member of the parliament for Batley and Spen and she died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire. In the case, Cox’s 53-year-old gardener was found guilty of her murder along with other offences linked to the incident. 

Prior to Cox, the last attack on the UK’s Member of the Parliament in a constituency surgery involved Liberal Democrat Nigel Jones who luckily survived. Jones was attacked with a samurai sword in 2000. However, his assistant was stabbed to death on 28 January, 2000 when he tried to protect the lawmaker. The attacker reportedly stormed his constituency office in Cheltenham, with a sword killing his personal aide, Andy Pennington. Notably, British MPs are rarely accompanied by bodyguards at constituency surgeries.

(IMAGE: AP)