I am sure we have all been shocked by the killing of Sir David Amess, the Member of Parliament for Southend West, on Friday. Sir David was stabbed during one of his regular MP Surgeries.
I had the privilege of knowing David as a colleague in Parliament,
in fact I remember my last conversation with him, on the last day Parliament
sat before the recent recess, when he congratulated me on my recent appointment
and had words of encouragement for me. This was typical of the gracious and
generous person he was. This is a memory I will now treasure fondly.
It has been clear from the outpouring of love and
appreciation towards him since his death that Sir David was someone who was
held in high esteem by people from all walks of life but especially his
constituents.
Sir David was one of the kindest and most polite people I
have ever met. He was hopelessly cheerful, optimistic and positive and always
sought to see the good in everyone, including his political opponents. He was a
determined campaigner and champion for his constituency.
On Monday the planned business of the House of Commons was
cancelled and instead the house paid tribute to Sir David. There were many
moving tributes from those who had known and worked with him over many years.
It was especially fitting that the Prime Minister announced that Her Majesty
the Queen had agreed to award Southend city status, a cause that David had
campaigned for over many years. I welcome this as a very fitting tribute to
David.
David was killed whilst going about his work as an MP doing
what many MPs would have been doing on Friday, meeting with constituents in
order to listen to and understand their concerns and seek to assist them. In
fact, I learnt of the attack on David whilst I was doing the very same thing on
Friday.
The fact that he was killed whilst going about an activity
that is key to the role of an MP strikes right at the heart of our democracy.
We often take for granted in this country just how open and accessible our
politicians are. Virtually all MPs hold regular events when constituents are
able to come and meet with them face to face in order to raise concerns or ask
questions. This is something that does not happen in many other democracies.
David is the second MP to be killed in this way in the last 5 years, following
the killing of Jo Cox in 2016.
Sadly, the fact that this has happened for the second time
does raise a number of questions about the safety of MPs and indeed other
public servants. I am pleased that the Home Secretary has announced that there
will now be a review into the security for MPs. It is right that we look at how
we can ensure MPs and importantly their staff, can be kept safe whilst going
about their job. But it will be a very sad day if the outcome of these tragic
events is that MPs are less accessible to the people they represent and serve.
My view is that whilst we need to do all we can to keep MPs
and their staff safe, this should not result in MPs becoming in any way cut off
from our constituents. If we allowed this to happen then those who seek to
attack our democracy will have won a victory.
But there are some wider points that do need to be
addressed. Sadly, in recent years MPs and politicians in general have become
the brunt of a great deal of abuse and hatred. Fuelled particularly by social
media and the ability for a degree of anonymity, hiding behind their screens,
there are those who abuse the accessibility of MPs through social media
platforms to attack and vilify them in a way they would almost never do in
person.
This, I believe, has created an atmosphere that dehumanises
politicians and we are seen by some as fair game and that we deserve everything
we get. But it cannot be acceptable in a democracy that this type of behaviour
is seen as OK and even sadly encouraged by some.
David personified an ability to disagree, sometimes
passionately, whilst respecting everyone. If there is one thing, that comes
about as a result of his death it should be that we recover in our country the
ability to disagree, and debate and argue, without resorting to hatred, abuse
or personal attacks.
I believe all of us need to take stock and remind ourselves
that we are all human and deserve to be treated with respect whatever our
political views. This I believe would be a fitting tribute to David.
