Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer lay flowers at David Amess murder scene in show of unity

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer have paid tribute to veteran MP Sir David Ames as the pair were pictured arriving at the scene of his brutal murder on Saturday morning. 

Dressed in all black, the two leaders of Britain’s biggest political parties walked side-by-side with flowers in hand in poignant scenes as they approached the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. 

They were joined by Home Secretary Priti Patel and speaker of the House of Commons and Labour MP for Chorley Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who were also carrying wreaths as all across the political spectrum unite in their grief.

The Prime Minister made the surprise visit as he and other shocked MPs came to terms with the death of the 69-year-old after he was stabbed 17 times while meeting local residents on Friday.

Horrified constituents waiting to see the veteran MP, who has campaigned to help refugees, watched in horror as the assailant leapt on him just after midday. 

The brutal assault on Sir David was over in seconds, but the lone knifeman who calmly waited in line before attacking the MP was in no hurry to leave the murder scene as he was later found inside the church hall. 

A terror suspect who lived in the Southend West area was later arrested over the brutal stabbing of Sir David – a Briton of Somali descent, 25 – may have previously been referred to an anti-radicalisation programme. 

The hunt for more information on the killer’s motive behind the devastating attack continues today, after officers raided two properties in London as it emerged the suspect’s family came to the UK from Somalia in the 1990s. 

The four senior politicians walked together for the unannounced visit at 9am, before each paid their respects in silence. A convoy of cars brought the Prime Minister and the other politicians to the tape barricades. They did not make any statement to the assembled media.

Well wishers from the local community brought flowers to lay at the barricades set up across the road leading to the murder scene. 

Sir David was meant to have been giving a speech at a dinner for the local Conservative association last night in nearby Rochford. 

Instead, floral tributes were being laid and more than 100 locals attended a vigil. One card left on flowers at the scene read simply: ‘Sir David Amess – RIP –such a gentleman.’

An urgent review has been launched over the last 24 hours into the safety of politicians, with Home Secretary Priti Patel speaking with police chiefs across the country to assess the level of risk all 650 MPs face. 

Speaking on Sky News, Mrs Patel insisted a balance can be struck between continuing open surgeries and ensuring elected representatives are kept safe. 

She said: ‘We will continue to review and strengthen measures, and rightly so. The Speaker and I will continue to support MPs. Policing will continue to support MPs. That work is underway.

‘There are measures in terms of policing and measures we take upon ourselves. There will be further guidance that will go to MPs led by the Speaker of House. But we are open to surgeries, doing our job. 

‘We will absolutely stand by the principles which we are elected by – to serve our constituents in the open way in which we have been doing so. But also recognising there are safety and protection measures we have to undertake too. 

‘We will carry on, we live in an open society and democracy. We cannot be cowed by any individual or people with motives to stop us from functioning and serve our elected democracy.’ 

After laying a wreath at the scene of the murder Mrs Patel told the BBC: ’We’re all struggling to come to terms with the fact that Sir David Amess has been so cruelly taken away from us.’

She said Sir David ‘was just a passionate advocate and champion for Southend” and was “a man of the people’.

‘To me he was a dear and loyal friend’.

She added tributes paid to Sir David reflect “the warmth, love and affection” held for him.

Detectives said their early investigation revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism. It is believed the attacker acted alone, and investigators are not looking for anyone else in connection but enquiries continue. 

But they have yet to confirm whether or not the suspect was on counter-terrorism’s radar, with initial investigations indicating he was not known to the authorities. 

However sources told the Guardian that the suspect has the same details as someone who was referred to the PREVENT programme – set up by counterterrorism bosses to stop vulnerable people from being radicalised by extremists. 

MI5 are also said to be taking part in the investigation and will be looking into whether the suspect was part of the scheme. 

PREVENT involves local authorities and police and sees potential targets for radicalisation referred and assessed.

 If they are deemed a terrorism risk, they may be referred to the Home Office’s Channel Programme or given help from a mentor. In some cases police will intervene. 

MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment. 

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer were both seen arriving at the scene of the killing Saturday morning to pay tribute.  

The Met earlier said it was carrying out searches on two homes in the London area as part of their investigation, but that at this time, the evidence suggests the suspect worked alone. 

They are also searching his laptop and phone and quizzing his associates to establish any potential extremism links.  

The force’s Counter Terrorism Command unit are working with officers from the Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU) and Essex Police. 

It is understood the suspect lived in Sir David’s Southend West constituency after his family came to the UK from Somalia in the 1990s. 

The shock killing – just five years after the murder of MP Jo Cox – has re-ignited the debate about MPs’ security and whether or not they should operate face-to-face meetings with constituents without special measures in place. 

Labour MP and speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle held his own surgery last night and told BBC Two’s Newsnight that the terrorists ‘will not win’. 

The MP for Chorley, stressed the importance of face-to-face surgeries and warned against a knee-jerk reaction following Sir David’s death. 

He said: ‘Those people who do not share our values or share democracy, they will not win and we won’t let them win. 

‘We will continue to look at security, that is ongoing and it will continue.’  

However Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood suggested that it was time for such surgeries to come to an end. 

He told BBC’s Radio 4: ‘I would recommend that no MP has direct surgery – you can move to Zoom, there are other ways, you can achieve an awful lot over the telephone, you can get things moving far faster than having to wait for a surgery date.’ 

More than 600 MPs will be contacted by police today to go over their security details after Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered an immediate review following a meeting with intelligence and other agencies. 

‘The home secretary has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs with immediate effect and will provide updates in due course,’ a spokesperson for Ms Patel said.

According to the Times, Whitehall officials have had concerns about a possible lone-wolf attack by people who have become radicalised during lockdown. 

Tributes have been pouring in for Sir David while a vigil was held at St Peters Church in Leigh-on-Sea last night.      

John Lamb, a Conservative councillor who rushed to the church when he heard what had happened, said: ‘He was doing a surgery in the Methodist church here to speak to local people and pick up on their problems.

‘I’m told that when he went in for his surgery there were people waiting to see him, and one of them literally got a knife out and just began stabbing him.’

At 12.05pm yesterday, the police were called and said they were on the scene ‘in minutes’. Witnesses described how the knifeman made no attempt to leave the scene and waited for police to arrive at which point members of the public described him as being compliant.

Kevin Buck, the deputy chairman of the local constituency association, told the Telegraph: ‘I was told that he stabbed Sir David and that he just waited there in the church hall until the police arrived. There was no attempt to flee.’  

Sir David collapsed in a pool of blood and paramedics battled for more than an hour to save his life, but sadly he died just before 3pm.

A much-loved MP and a proud father of five, Sir David gave away his daughter Alex, 31, in marriage just weeks ago.  

Yesterday the family of Mrs Cox, who was shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, by a Right-wing terrorist in June 2016, said Sir David’s murder was an ‘attack on democracy itself’.

Mrs Cox’s husband Brendan said: ‘Attacking our elected representatives is an attack on democracy itself.

‘There is no excuse, no justification. It is as cowardly as it gets.’

Mrs Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater, who has replaced her as the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, said her partner had asked her to step down from politics.

She said: ‘Totally shocked by what has happened to think that something so horrific could happen again to another MP, to another family.

‘And scared and frightened – a real rollercoaster of emotions.

‘I find myself now working as a politician and trying to do good things for people and it’s really important you get good people in public life, but this is the risk we are all taking and so many MPs will be scared by this.

‘My partner came home and he said he didn’t want me to do it any more because the next time that phone goes, it could be a different conversation.’  

MPs from across the board have called for Southend to be made a city in memory of Sir David – a cause that has long been championed by the Southend West MP.

The MP would regularly raise the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions or during debates at the Commons, often to the amusement of his colleagues, and as recently as this week told BBC Essex his plan was to ‘wear them down until they say yes’.

Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, said: ‘David campaigned for so many wonderful things including animal welfare and to make Southend a city. That would be a fitting memorial.’

In response to a tweet suggesting Southend be given city status, Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP for Warrington North, said: ‘Absolutely; I can’t think of a better way to honour his memory.’ 

Phillip Miller, owner of Southend’s Adventure Island theme park, also said turning the town into a city would be ‘a fitting epitaph’ for the late MP. 

Sir David is the sixth MP to be killed since the Second World War, and the ninth in history.

It is not known whether his wife Julia, who is his part-time caseworker, was in the church at the time.

The MP, who was an ardent Brexiteer, was seen laughing and speaking to people on the steps of the church just 15 minutes before he was killed.

Sir David wrote last year about the importance of meeting constituents despite what had happened to Mrs Cox.

He wrote: ‘She was a young woman with a family going about her duties, as we all do, completely unaware of the threat that she faced.

‘While it is often said that good can come out of someone’s death, it is difficult to see what good can come from this senseless murder’.

He also admitted he had been threatened at his home: ‘I myself have over the years experienced nuisance from the odd member of the general public at my own property.

‘We regularly check our locks and many others have CCTV cameras installed but probably the most significant change has been with constituency surgeries.’

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said MPs were in shock at what he described as an attack on democracy. He said he wanted to see a greater police presence at constituency surgeries.

But he said it was vital that voters were able to engage directly with MPs.

Sir Lindsay said: ‘David was a lovely man, devoted to his family, to parliament and his Southend West constituency.

‘He was well liked by members and the staff alike, and during his almost four decades here, built a reputation for kindness and generosity.

‘We will need to discuss and examine MPs’ security and any measures to be taken.’

Yesterday the Prime Minister paid tribute as there was an outpouring of grief from other MPs.

Boris Johnson said: ‘He was one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics.’

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among the public figures who led a great outpouring of grief after the brutal stabbing of Sir David Amess. 

Prince William and Kate said they are ‘shocked and saddened’ by the incident which saw the veteran MP killed while holding a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, afternoon.

In a statement, the couple said: ‘We are shocked and saddened by the murder of Sir David Amess, who dedicated 40 years of his life to serving his community.

 ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues. W&C.’

The death of Sir David also brought tributes from across the world, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

He said in a post on Twitter: ‘I am shocked by the news that British MP Sir David Amess was stabbed and killed today.

‘My thoughts are with his family and loved ones, and on behalf of all Canadians and Parliamentarians, I offer my deepest condolences to his colleagues and all who are mourning this loss.’

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison echoed Mr Trudeau’s statement, saying: ‘Shocked and terribly saddened by the awful loss of Sir David Amess, stabbed and killed in the UK while doing his job, serving his local community as an MP.

‘Our deepest sympathies and condolences to Sir David, all his colleagues in the UK Parliament and Sir David’s family and friends.

Australia’s leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese, also added his sympathy, saying: ‘Shocked and saddened to hear the news that Sir David Amess MP was killed in the UK.

‘On behalf of Australian Labor I extend my deep and sincere condolences.’

At a vigil last night more than 100 people packed into St Peter’s Catholic Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

Rev Clifford Newman, the vicar at the Methodist church where the murder took place, said: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with David and Julia, his wife, and the family and the many people he has helped in the past.

‘The local Baptist minister told me that he’s helped refugees.’

A second vigil took place at St Peters Catholic Church where Father Jeff Woolnough, who called Sir David ‘Mr Southend’, described the MP as a ‘fine gentleman and a knight of the realm’ who was much loved by all members of the community.

First elected in Thatcher’s 1983 landslide, Sir David was one of the longest-serving Tory MPs.

He never made it: MP’s assailant queued to see him… then launched his savage attack

By Sam Greenhill, Arthur Martin, Mario Ledwith and Neil Sears for the Daily Mail

It was as sudden as it was savage. A man pulled out a knife and ‘just began stabbing’ David Amess.

The ferocious attack left the 69-year-old veteran Conservative MP gasping for life on the floor of the church hall.

He was so grievously injured by ‘more than a dozen’ stab wounds that medical staff battling to save him could not stabilise him enough to take him to hospital. After two desperate hours, a helicopter air ambulance which had landed in a nearby field took off again, empty.

Sir David was a committed constituency MP who had devoted his life to meeting local residents and trying to help with their problems.

When he arrived for his regular surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, shortly before midday, several were waiting to see him. John Lamb, a Conservative councillor who rushed to the church when he heard what had happened, said: ‘He was doing a surgery in the Methodist church here to speak to local people and pick up on their problems.

‘I’m told that when he went in for his surgery there were people waiting to see him, and one of them literally got a knife out and just began stabbing him. He was with a female member of staff from his constituency office and another female member of staff from his parliamentary office.’

Speaking outside the church, the shocked councillor said: ‘It has been two hours since it happened, and they are still working on him – he hasn’t been taken to hospital yet.

‘He’s a family man, he’s got four daughters and a son.’

Another witness said the MP had been ‘stabbed quite a few times’, while Sky News reported there were ‘more than a dozen’ knife wounds. The brutal assault on Sir David was over in seconds, but the knifeman does not appear to have been in a hurry to leave the murder scene.

Terrified members of the public dialled 999. Lee Jordison, 40, who works in nearby Hicks butchers, said: ‘It is very shocking. I’ve worked up here and lived up here all my life, and never seen anything like this – it’s terrible.’

Officers from Essex Police were the first to arrive, within five minutes, followed moments later by an armed response unit. They found the 25-year-old suspect still inside the church hall, and also recovered a knife. The alleged killer was led out to a police van.

Anthony Finch, 38, an electrician, said: ‘We arrived to do some work on the adjacent building. I saw an upset lady on the phone saying ‘You need to arrive quickly – he’s still in the building’.

‘I went into the client’s house, and when I came back out there were loads of armed police, and overhead there was an air ambulance as well as a police helicopter. I saw the suspect get put into a police van, get taken away and then they cordoned the whole road, and pushed us all down the road.

‘What we then heard was that it was David Amess. He’s very well thought of in our area – he fights for good causes and sticks up for people around here.’

As word spread, a Roman Catholic priest, Father Jeffrey Woolnough, arrived at the police cordon stretching across tree-lined Eastwood Road North, offering to administer the last rites to the devoutly Catholic MP. He said: ‘The officers said that because it was a crime scene, and also the nature of the scene, it just wasn’t possible.’

Conservative councillor David Garston described Sir David as ‘probably one of the best constituency MPs in the country’, and said: ‘Because he was so accessible, and because he was everywhere, he obviously left himself vulnerable and didn’t think twice about it.

‘You couldn’t get very far [with him] because he’d stop every hundred yards to talk to somebody.’ Another local councillor, James Courtenay, said that surgeries were the MP’s passion and a scheduled hour-long session with constituents often stretched to four or five hours.

Sir David was meant to have been giving a speech at a dinner for the local Conservative association last night in nearby Rochford. Instead, floral tributes were being laid and more than 100 locals attended a vigil. One card left on flowers at the scene read simply: ‘Sir David Amess – RIP –such a gentleman.’

Ben-Julian Harrington, Essex Police’s chief constable, said that officers and paramedics had ‘worked extremely hard to save Sir David’.

Crusader of backbenches who loved Strictly – but not Eurovision… and whose talismanic victory in Basildon in 1992 first told Britain that Major, not Kinnock, would be PM

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail 

He was known to colleagues as ‘Basildon man’ – and not just because he was a constituency MP through and through.

Sir David Amess first entered political folklore during the 1992 election when his famously Tory Essex seat was expected to fall to Neil Kinnock’s Labour, who many thought was certain to oust John Major’s government.

Yet the moment Basildon flashed up blue, and Sir David’s infectious smile peered out from television screens, Conservatives breathed a deep sigh of relief in the knowledge that the Welsh windbag’s dream of becoming Prime Minister was at an end.

For that reason alone, this genial father of five will always hold a precious place in Tory hearts.

But to Parliamentary colleagues, there was so much more to him than that, personal qualities that made him a vastly popular figure across the political divide.

He was a kind, genial soul, always quick to raise a laugh in the Commons. Watching this deceptively charismatic figure on his feet in the chamber, it was virtually impossible not to take a shine to him.

Rarely, if ever, when called by the Speaker did his polite question not concern his beloved Southend. A long and much-loved campaign to make the Essex seaside town a city now sadly remains unfulfilled.

Even Sir David’s Early Day Motions could raise a giggle around the Commons tea room.

One saluted Ann Widdecombe and Anton du Beke on their ‘achievement in putting a smile on the nation’s faces with their performances’ after their exit from Strictly Come Dancing in 2010.

Another congratulated Dame Helen Mirren – who went to school in his Southend West constituency – on her Oscars triumph in 2007.

The Eurovision song contest, on the other hand, brought out the Brexiteer in him. It was, he claimed, an event ‘designed to humiliate the UK’.

But on the whole, the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world appeared to delight him.

And why wouldn’t it? 

His daughter Katie is a former Miss Essex who went on to become a Bafta-nominated actress and appeared in Hollywood blockbusters such as a Harry Potter film and Captain America: Civil War.

Born in Plaistow (then in Essex, now east London) and raised a Roman Catholic, Sir David was educated at St Bonaventure’s grammar school in Forest Gate and then Bournemouth College of Technology, where he earned a degree in economics and government.

His first job was working as a primary school teacher in London’s East End, teaching at St John the Baptist primary school in Bethnal Green for a year in 1970-71.

He then spent a short time as an underwriter before becoming a recruitment consultant.

By 1983 he was a Tory parliamentary candidate and entered the Commons partly as a result of Margaret Thatcher’s wildly popular policy of letting council tenants buy their homes, a measure that greatly appealed to the citizens of Basildon.

He married his wife Julia in the same year and they went on to have five children – a son and four daughters.

His friend and fellow MP Jerry Hayes, who entered Parliament in the very same year as the Conservative member for the neighbouring constituency of Harlow, says that Sir David never seriously sought high government office. ‘He always believed his true vocation was to represent his constituents in Essex, something he did for 38 years with diligence, skill and good humour,’ he says.

‘David liked to be out and about, pounding the streets of his constituency, speaking up for those who needed his help and advice.

‘Not for him the bullet-proof limousine and a battalion of special advisers. His political outlook was that of a slightly old-fashioned parliamentarian. He spoke up for the ordinary man and woman in his constituency, and of course for animals, about which he cared passionately.

‘I am sorry to say it was precisely this selfless determination that placed him in mortal danger yesterday, and cost him his life.’

During his near four-decade stint in Parliament, Sir David was briefly a ministerial aide, but he held a number of important behind-the-scenes roles and was knighted in 2015 for political and public service.

Politics-wise, Sir David was a staunch Right-winger, having been a Eurosceptic for years before the referendum was held.

It is true that some of his beliefs might be considered deeply unfashionable these days.

The 69-year-old was an opponent of same-sex marriage and, as a devout mass-going Catholic, strongly anti-abortion.

But being the maverick he was, he also took some less traditional Conservative positions, being one of very few Tories to campaign against fox hunting. Controversial viewpoints these may have been, but they never appeared to dull his popularity throughout Westminster. 

In a sign of the affection in which he was held among MPs, Corbynite Paula Sherriff, who was ousted during the 2019 election, broke down in tears on the radio yesterday upon news of Sir David’s death.

‘I loved him,’ Miss Sherriff told Shelagh Fogarty on LBC. ‘David was a wonderful, wonderful man – I have lost a friend today.’

Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon, also paid tribute to Sir David as ‘a wonderful man’ who was funny, kind and ‘cared about the most disadvantaged in our communities’ and ’embodies Essex’. The fun side of his character often shone through. On December 30 last year, he posted a photo of a cardboard cut-out of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Twitter.

He wrote: ‘Whilst Margaret didn’t live long enough to see this day, I am sure that she is rejoicing in heaven. At last we ‘got Brexit done’!’

The Iron Lady put in another surprise appearance this summer when Sir David brought the cut-out to his daughter Alexandra’s wedding.

One episode he preferred to forget occurred in 1997. He was tricked into condemning a made-up drug called ‘Cake’ on the satirical TV programme Brass Eye, developed by comedian Chris Morris.

Last night local councillor James Courtenay paid tribute to his late local MP saying he was ‘a hardcore constituency MP who decided many years ago that he wasn’t looking for career advancement in Westminster’.

Other local leaders also paid tribute to the dedicated politician.

Margaret Borton, Mayor of Southend-on-Sea, says: ‘Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Sir David. The tragic news today has shocked us all.

‘Sir David was a dedicated Member of Parliament and servant to the local community.

‘I don’t think I can put into words just how devastating this is.’

Ian Gilbert, leader of Southend Council, says: ‘I am profoundly shocked by the news and my thoughts are with Sir David’s family and friends at this awful time.

‘Sir David was a great advocate of Southend-on-Sea, cared deeply about the community and will be sorely missed This really is a terrible day for the whole community of Southend-on-Sea.’

Tony Cox, leader of the Conservative group on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, says: ‘We are all shocked and saddened by the death of Sir David Amess.

‘He was a great man, a great MP, a respected parliamentarian and respected by his residents. What we cannot lose sight of here is that a wife has been robbed of a husband and five children have been robbed of a father.

‘He was a passionate believer in the right of life and it’s poignant that his life has been so cruelly taken away. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.’ 

Surgeries were ‘his passion’ and a two-hour session could often stretch to four or five hours, Mr Courtenay added.

True to form, Sir David was meant to have been at a dinner for the local Conservative association last night at the Saxon Hall, Rochford, where he was due to give a speech.

It was a speech, tragically, he never got to make.