A long-serving member of Britain's parliament was stabbed to death during a meeting with constituents Friday, in what police said was a terrorist incident. A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack, which united Britain's fractious politicians in shock and sorrow.
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Counterterrorism officers were leading the investigation into the slaying of Conservative lawmaker David Amess. In a statement early Saturday, the Metropolitan Police described the attack as terrorism and said the early investigation "has revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism."
Amess, 69, was attacked around midday Friday at a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, a town about 40 miles (62 kilometers) east of London. Paramedics tried without success to save him. Police arrested the suspect and recovered a knife.
They did not identify the suspect, who was held on suspicion of murder. Police said they believed the suspect acted alone and were not seeking anyone else in connection with the killing, though investigations continue.
The slaying came five years after another MP, Jo Cox, was murdered by a far-right extremist in her small-town constituency, and it renewed concern about the risks politicians run as they go about their work representing voters. British politicians generally are not given police protection when they meet with their constituents.
Tributes poured in for the UK lawmaker from around the world, including Israel.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sent his "heartfelt condolences to the family and loves ones of the British MP Sir David Amess. He was a true friend of the Jewish community and the State of Israel.
"His tragic loss will be felt by many."
Foreign Minister and Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid said: "From Israel, we send our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Sir David Amess. He always stood with the Jewish community and was a true friend of Israel. May his memory be a blessing."
Residents of the community he had served for decades paid tribute to him at a vigil at a church in Leigh-on-Sea.
"He carried that great East London spirit of having no fear and being able to talk to people and the level they're at," the Rev. Jeffrey Woolnaugh said at the vigil, attended by about 80 people. "Not all politicians, I would say, are good at that."
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he and his Cabinet were "deeply shocked and heart-stricken."
"David was a man who believed passionately in this country and in its future, and we've lost today a fine public servant and a much-loved friend and colleague," Johnson said.
The prime minister would not say whether the attack meant politicians needed tighter security, saying, "We must really leave the police to get on with their investigation."
Amess had been a member of parliament for Southend West, which includes Leigh-on-Sea, since 1997, and had been a lawmaker since 1983, making him one of the longest-serving politicians in the House of Commons.
A social conservative on the right of his party, he was a well-liked figure with a reputation for working hard for his constituents and campaigning ceaselessly to have Southend declared a city.
Amess, who leaves a wife and five children, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015 for his service, becoming Sir David.
Flags at Parliament were lowered to half-staff amid a profusion of questions about lawmakers' security.
"This is an incident that will send shockwaves across the parliamentary community and the whole country," House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said. "In the coming days we will need to discuss and examine MPs' security and any measures to be taken, but for now, our thoughts and prayers are with David's family, friends, and colleagues."
In 2016, a week before the country's divisive Brexit referendum, Cox, a Labour Party lawmaker, was fatally stabbed and shot in northern England. Also, several people have been jailed in recent years for threatening lawmakers.
British lawmakers are protected by armed police when they are inside parliament, and security there was tightened after an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group fatally stabbed a police officer at the gates in 2017.
But politicians have no such protection in their constituencies. Amess published the times and locations of his open meetings with constituents on his website.
Two other British lawmakers have been attacked over the past two decades during their "surgeries," regular meetings where constituents can present concerns and complaints.
Labour legislator Stephen Timms was stabbed in the stomach in 2010 by a student radicalized by online sermons from an al-Qaida-linked preacher.
In 2000, Liberal Democrat Nigel Jones and his aide Andrew Pennington were attacked by a man wielding a sword during such a meeting. Pennington was killed and Jones wounded in the attack in Cheltenham, England.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, tweeted that Amess' killing was a "tragic day for our democracy," and former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "shocked and horrified."
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party said on Twitter: "In a democracy, politicians must be accessible and open to scrutiny, but no one deserves to have their life taken while working for and representing their constituents."
Kim Leadbeater, Jo Cox's sister and now a member of Parliament herself said it was "horrific" that Amess' family was experiencing what hers had gone through.
"They will think about this every single day for the rest of their lives," she said.
"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."
David Amess was a man of the people, a hard-working British lawmaker who had no grand political ambitions beyond serving those who had elected him for nigh-on 40 years.
His shocking death at the hands of a knife-wielding man at a church where he was meeting voters has reopened questions about the security needs of Britain's members of Parliament as they go about their daily work.
Police, who have said it was a terrorist-related attack, continued Saturday to question a 25-year-old British man.
For the second time in five years, Britain's political leaders put their differences aside to gather Saturday morning at the scene of a fallen colleague. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, stood side-by-side and laid flowers as they paid tribute to the long-serving lawmaker, who was stabbed to death less than 24 hours earlier.
The slaying of the 69-year-old Conservative lawmaker at a regular meeting with local voters has caused shock and anxiety across Britain's political spectrum, not least because it is reminiscent of the 2016 murder of Labour lawmaker Jo Cox by a far-right extremist in her own small-town constituency.
"He was killed doing a job that he loves, serving his own constituents as an elected democratic member and, of course, acts of this are absolutely wrong, and we cannot let that get in the way of our functioning democracy," British Home Secretary Priti Patel said after paying her respects to Amess at the church where he died.
Patel said she has convened meetings with the speaker of the House of Commons, police, and UK security services to ensure "all measures are being put in place for the security of MPs so that they can carry on with their duties as elected democratic members."
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative lawmaker who gave first aid to a police officer stabbed at the gates of Parliament in 2017, said face-to-face meetings with voters should be temporarily halted, as they were during the recent coronavirus lockdowns, and replaced with online interactions.
Amess suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack during his constituency meeting in the church in Leigh-on-Sea, a quintessentially English seaside town 40 miles (62 kilometers) east of London, which has become a magnet in recent years to those tired of life in the capital.
The Metropolitan Police said its early investigation "revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism," without providing any details about the basis for that assessment. As part of the investigation, officers were searching two locations in the London area.
Amess, who had a wife and five children and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015, died doing what he'd done countless times – listening to the concerns of residents in his seaside constituency of Southend West, which incorporates Leigh-on-Sea.
Under Britain's parliamentary system, lawmakers have direct links with their local voters, often hosting open meetings, or "surgeries." The meetings often take place in local churches and community halls and are publicly advertised. Amess himself posted online where he would be hosting his surgery on Friday.
"The reason he wanted to use the church was because he wanted to be where the people were," said Rev. Clifford Newman at the Belfairs Methodist Church where Amess was killed. "And if you come to somewhere which is in the locality like Belfairs, as opposed to some ivory tower somewhere, people are more likely to feel easier, freer, and more likely to open up to him."
"I feel as if I have lost a family member. I feel that he was the family of Southend, he was the leader of Southend," resident Erica Keane, 69, said. "And he was everywhere! He was at the football pitches, he was in the choirs, he was in the pubs. He was everywhere and he was Southend."
Amess was a popular lawmaker, winning 10 out of 10 elections since 1983. He was a social conservative on issues like capital punishment and abortion, an active supporter of animal rights, and campaigned tirelessly on health matters such as obesity.
While never serving as a government minister, Amess was a fixer, a lawmaker able to forge alliances across the political divide. His door was seemingly always open to any new politician facing the centuries-old parliament.
Friday's killing renewed concern about the risks politicians run as they go about their work. British politicians generally are not given police protection when meeting constituents – unlike the high-security measures that are in place in the UK parliament.
But the vitriol directed towards them has escalated in recent years, with many blaming the more polarized atmosphere on social media and the political divisions stoked by Britain's departure from the European Union.
"We want to be accessible and approachable, but recently there has been more and more violent abuse," Labour lawmaker Tanmanjeet Dhesi said.
Veteran Labour lawmaker Harriet Harman also said she would write to Johnson and ask him to back a non-partisan conference to review the safety of parliamentarians.
"Since Jo Cox's tragic killing, we've had changes in our home security, we've had changes in security in Parliament, but we haven't looked at the issue of how we go about that important business in our constituency, but do it in a safe way," Harman told BBC radio. "I think we must do that now."
Last year, in his own book "Ayes & Ears: A Survivor's Guide to Westminster," Amess wrote about what he called Cox's "barbaric" murder and how security issues could spoil "the great British tradition" of voters' easy access to their elected leaders.
He warned at the time "it could happen to any of us."
