Stephen Timms, the Labour MP and former government minister who survived an attempt by a radicalised student to kill him, has told fellow MPs that they will “rightly reflect” on what they can do stop another MP being killed.
He wondered, for example, if they might ask the police to review their appointments list ahead of each surgery.
“But we must not give up on the accessibility of members of parliament, he added.
Roshonara Choudhry was jailed for life in 2010 with a minimum term of 15 years at the Old Bailey for the attack on Timms.
The 21-year-old was convicted on three charges after a short trial in which she ordered her defence team not to challenge the prosecution’s case because she did not recognise the jurisdiction of the British court.
The Old Bailey jury took just 14 minutes to return unanimous verdicts on the attempted murder charge and two counts of having an offensive weapon.
The Green Party confirmed it would not stand in the by-election in Southend West which will be triggered following the killing of Sir David Amess.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have already indicated they will stand aside in the contest out of respect for the Conservative MP, who was killed on Friday.
The former Conservative Party leader, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, has been quoting the words of Jo Cox, who said that MPs are often more united by the things they believe in than necessarily divided.
“The fact is that we are in this place because we argue with each other about our ideas. The important feature of this is that we may disagree with our arguments but we don’t disrespect the motives of those who hold them.”
“And we need to be very careful. This is a lesson to us that we need to be careful here what we legitimise in what we say about our colleagues. They are not evil people. Nobody in this chamber is an evil individual.”
Theresa May said every MP has “lost a friend” as she paid tribute to Sir David, telling the Commons: “Laughter, service, compassion – these are three of the words that spring to my mind when I think of David Amess.
“Laughter because you could never have a conversation with David without laughter and smiling, whether it was because of one of the outrageous stories he was telling – perhaps about one of his colleagues or somebody else – but there were always smiles, always laughter, always fun around David.”
The Conservative former prime minister said Amess gave an “extraordinary” service to his constituents, adding: “I suggest to anybody who wants to be a first-class constituency MP that you look at the example of David Amess.”
May said Amess “made a difference to people’s lives”, before noting it was a “wonderful legacy” that Southend will be given city status and she urged MPs to “bring the same respect, decency and compassion that were the symbols of his life” when discussing issues.
She concluded: “His compassion made a difference to people outside of this House, his kindness made a difference inside this House. Our thoughts and prayers are with Julia and the family. Their loss is devastating.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said that, like Keir Starmer, he wanted to reach across the aisle and say to every Conservative colleague: “We feel for you.”
Sir David Amess had always spoken with compassion when it came to representing people and had undertaken an eclectic mix of political campaigns which bridged the political divide, whether it was animal welfare or the fuel poor.
We don’t have to agree with each other across political divides, said Davey, “but we can learn to be kind and warm even when we disagree. David was.”
Davey reflected on an attack nearly 21 years ago on the then Liberal Demcrat MP, Nigel Jones, who was brutally assaulted during a constituency advice surgery.
“Nigel was saved that day by the bravery of his member of staff, Andrew Pennington. Andrew was a local councillor who Nigel told me used to work seven days a week for local constituents,” he added.
So as MPs reflected on the loss of David Amess and the threat to MPs, he asked them to remember that staff and many in public services faced abuse, threats and violence on a daily basis.
The father of the suspect in the inquiry into David Amess’s killing, was a committed anti-extremist who risked his own life trying to thwart hate groups, his friends and colleagues have said.
The suspect, Ali Harbi Ali, had at one stage lived in Southend and at the time of the attack was resident in London. He was previously known to Prevent, the official programme to identify and help those deemed at risk of radicalisation.
His father, Harbi Ali Kullane, a former director of media and communications for a former prime minister of Somalia, is said to be in shock after the arrest of his son over the attack that shocked Westminster.
Kullane’s friends and former colleagues said he worked on projects against extremism in Mogadishu.
Abdirachid Fidow, who works for not-for-profit organisation the Anti-Tribalism Movement, said: “The father worked a lot of anti-terrorism projects in Mogadishu, fighting against al-Shabaab. He was someone who endangered his own life in public service fighting against extremism.”
Harriet Harman, the Labour MP and mother of the house, said that Sir David Amess was one of the most dedicated but also “the most affable” of MPs.
He looked past party political loyalties to take up causes, she said, citing his recent campaign on behalf of young unmarried mothers whose babies were taken from them in the 1960s and 1970s.
“We have all got examples of where he has worked with us,” she said, adding that she would redouble her efforts.
Harman was followed by the father of the house, Sir Peter Bottomley, who said: “If we look around this chamber we will see the shields of those who have died, some in active service over the last world war.”
Bottomley added that a few of those gathered in the chamber today were present in parliament when Airey Neave was blown up.
Bottomley himself was part of the same football team as another MP who was killed, Robert Bradford, and he had also campaigned with a Tory colleague, Ian Gow, who was also among MPs who were assassinated.
James Duddridge, who is currently Southend’s only MP in the wake of the killing of his friend and colleague, has told the House of Commons that he was above and beyond everything else a family man and “a very funny man”.
“He would often break through all the rules, cutting through pomp and ceremony and connecting with people, said the MP for the Rochford and Southend East Constituency.
Introducing Duddridge, Amess would always make up a story. At his annual Christmas dinner for people over the age of 100, he said Duddrige was a strictly come dancing winner.
Before there was ever a raffle, he would describe Duddridge as a “lottery millionaire”.
“My favourite ice-breaker was: ‘Meet James. He’s my neighbour. He’s recently got out of prison,” he added.
Duddridge went on to relay the story of the boiled sweet – alluded to by Mark Francois – which stemmed from a visit to the Vatican by Amess, a devout Catholic. People were getting things blessed, and with a sore throat, the MP for Southend West reached into his pocket and took out a boiled sweet.
“David got his timing wrong. The pope took the sweet, thinking it was a revered object to be blessed,” said Duddridge, mimicking the pope making the sign of the cross.
Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP at Westminster, said Sir David Amess was a “good and a decent man” who would always greet someone with a welcoming smile.
“For members and staff across this house it will take time to come to terms with the terrible shock of the senseless death of another colleague,” he said, adding that the family of Jo Cox were being forced to relive the nightmare of their experience again.
“Members of this house are being murdered for simply doing their job. That is the terrible reality we are faced with.”
David Amess was probably the best father of the House of Commons that it will never have, Tory MP Mark Francois has said in remarks paying attention to his fallen friend.
In the last few years, he said, Amess had become increasingly concerned about the atmosphere in which MPs, and particularly female MPs, had to endure.
Amess wanted something to be done about it, said Francois, who added: “All of us, no matter where we came from, came here to try to help people.”
MPs were now being systematically vilified day after day, he said, telling MPs: “Enough is enough.”
He called for the forthcoming online safety bill to be toughened up with “David’s Law”, which would ensure that those in public life could no longer be vilified by those who hide behind a cloak of anonymity
Francois said he had to confess that he would like to drag Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and other social media chiefs to the House of Commons to account for a failure to act against online abuse.
“If the social media chief executives don’t want to drain the swamp of social media then let’s compel them to do so.”
“I am absolutely determined that he will not have died in vain.”
Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie complied with coronavirus rules when a family friend stayed with them over Christmas, Downing Street has said.
Nimco Ali reportedly spent Christmas at No 10, despite London being placed under tier 4 lockdown restrictions in December 2020, preventing most households mixing.
Ali is understood to have stayed with the Johnsons, who at the time were engaged to be married, under the “bubble” arrangements, which allowed friends or family to provide informal childcare – the couple’s son Wilfred was eight months old at the time.
Johnson’s official spokesman said: “The prime minister and Mrs Johnson have followed the coronavirus rules at all times.”
The House of Commons is united in its grief, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said, adding that MPs were thinking again about their dear friend, Jo Cox.
“Civility mattes, and it matters in politics,” he added, telling MPs that they all had a duty to learn.
“We must not lose sight that David’s killing was an act of terror in our country,” he went on, citing the killings of Jo Cox and also PC Keith Palmer, the police officer who was murdered during a terrorist attack on parliament.
“A cowardly attack on a public servant doing his job is an attack on our country and our way of life.”
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has announced that the Queen has agreed Southend will be granted city status following the killing of MP Sir David Amess.
Johnson said all MPs mourn with Sir David’s family, adding in the Commons: “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 both the sanctity of the church in which he was killed and the constituency surgery that is so essential to our representative democracy.”
“But we will not allow the manner of Sir David’s death in any way to detract from his accomplishments as a politician or as a human being.”
“Sir David was a patriot who believed passionately in this country, in its people and in its future. He was also one of the nicest, kindest and most gentle individuals ever to grace these benches.”
MPs cheered in the Commons as the prime minister announced Southend “will be accorded the city status it so clearly deserves”.
Johnson said: “As it is only a short time since Sir David last put that very case to me in this chamber, I am happy to announce that Her Majesty has agreed that Southend will be accorded the city status it so clearly deserves.”
“That Sir David spent almost 40 years in this house, but not one day in ministerial office, tells everything about where his priorities lay.”
The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, addressing the house, said: “In nearly four decades in this house Sir David was second to none in his determined commitment to his constituent, firstly as member for Basildon between 1983 and 97, and since then as the member for Southend West. He was tireless in making sure the voice of Southend West was heard in this chamber. It’s difficult to believe we will not hear him make the case for Southend achieving city status.”
“On a personal level David was a lovely man. He was well liked by staff and members alike and during his almost four decades here he built a reputation for kindness and generosity.”
Source: Guardian
