As the police announced on Saturday night, the investigators are now assuming a terrorist background. The case caused great concern across the country.
Amess was stabbed to death by an attacker on Friday during a citizens’ clinic in his Essex constituency. A 25 year old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. The first investigations have shown “a possible motivation in connection with Islamist extremism”, according to the police report. The investigators assume a lone perpetrator. As the PA news agency reported, citing security circles, the suspect is said to be a British man of Somali origin.
Amess’ fellow party member Tobias Ellwood, known for his courageous first aid after a terrorist attack on Parliament in 2017, called on Saturday to suspend physical meetings of MPs pending a Home Office security review .
House of Commons President Lindsay Hoyle called for a debate on the safety of politicians. But it was “essential” that the MPs could maintain their relationship with the citizens, said Hoyle in the BBC on Friday evening. He himself held his office hours after the attack on Amess. “We have to make sure that democracy survives,” continued Hoyle.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the crime scene in the southeastern English coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea on Saturday. TV images showed how the prime minister and Conservative party leader laid a wreath at the church that became the scene of the knife attack on Amess on Friday. He was accompanied by Opposition leader Keir Starmer from the Labor Party, who also laid a wreath. The two politicians then stood side by side in silence for a while. Home Secretary Priti Patel and Hoyle also laid wreaths. Patel had ordered an immediate review of the security arrangements for MPs.
British MPs, who are all directly elected in their constituency, offer regular consultation hours with citizens, which can also be attended at short notice. The so-called “surgeries” are usually held once a week and are an important part of the UK’s democratic culture. Labor MP Jo Cox was also murdered by a right-wing extremist during a public consultation in 2016. The attack occurred just a few weeks before the Brexit referendum.
Amess leaves behind a wife and five children. The Catholic from a working-class family was considered an arch-conservative Brexit supporter who campaigned against the right to abortion and for animal rights. He was also a staunch opponent of fox hunting. Amess sat for the Tories in the British Parliament since 1983, first for the constituency of Basildon and later for Southend West. (SDA)