"What happened to him is a fear MPs have learned to live with": Warwick and Leamington MP pays tribute to his colleague and friend Sir David Amess

I was deeply upset by the murder of Sir David Amess MP and I’m still in profound shock, writes Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western.

He was a Parliamentary colleague and, perhaps surprisingly to some, he was also a friend.

I worked with David on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Council Housing along with other campaigns and committees.

Though we often disagreed, and our politics were very different, he was decent, fair-minded, and absolutely committed to his constituents.

For less experienced MPs like myself, we looked up to him as an example of what we could achieve if we proudly stood by our constituents and put their interests first.

He was one of the longest serving MPs in the house, and that is a testament to his character and his approach to public service. Anyone who recognises him will know he had a reassuring, warm smile.

He will be greatly missed.

Having seen many of his closest friends and family pay tribute to David, I do believe he would never have wanted his death to alter the long-held democratic traditions and conventions MPs adhere to in their respective constituencies, such as in-person surgery sessions and visits to constituents.

Though of course, MPs will expect greater protection to enable our work to carry on free from the threat of violence.

I have kept mainly to Zoom meetings and surgeries throughout the pandemic, but I want to be assured of my safety when I return to in-person meetings.

I will engage with Parliamentary authorities on how best to keep all colleagues, from all sides of the house, safe when they go about their duties.

What happened to David is a fear MPs have learned to live with.

In fact, I think about it almost daily.

We must work to eliminate danger to those in public service.

Of course, Jo Cox’s murder by a far-right terrorist was as tragic as it was preventable – and it set in motion a discussion about how our political discourse needed changing.

A few years ago, my Labour colleague Rosie Cooper MP was the subject of a plot by a neo-Nazi terrorist who wanted to murder her with a machete.

She could have been the third MP to be assassinated on the job in five years.

Understandably, the focus right now is on MPs, but attention must also be paid to the safety of journalists (I’m reminded of BBC Newsnight’s Nick Watt being accosted by a horde of anti-vaxxers), members of SAGE, including the Chief Scientific Officers, healthcare workers (many of whom have informed me of the attacks and abuse they are forced to withstand), GPs, teachers and any others who receive threats.

Public servants have become the lightning rod for the increasing division and polarisation in society and the charge is often, unfortunately, coming from politicians, journalists in print, and certainly social media users.

Politicians and journalists must soften their language and social media platforms must clean up violent speech.

Public servants must be able to do their work free from the threat of violence and death.