# Breaking News: British Conservative MP David Amess Fatally Stabbed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548 "2021-10-15T14:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/1 "2021-10-15T14:34:13Z")
> The Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after he was stabbed several times during a surgery at his constituency in Essex. Amess, 69, who has represented Southend West in Essex since 1997, was stabbed several times at a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea. > > Essex police subsequently arrested a man. > **[MP David Amess dies after being stabbed at constituency meeting](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/15/mp-david-amess-dies-after-being-stabbed-at-constituency-surgery)** > > Man arrested on suspicion of murder after Conservative MP attacked during regular surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex Multiple updates at: > **[David Amess: home secretary asks police to review security measures after...](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/oct/15/david-amess-conservative-mp-stabbed-latest-updates)** > > Priti Patel asks all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs ‘with immediate effect’ after David Amess is killed at surgery for constituents In case you haven’t heard of him: > **[David Amess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Amess)** > > Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess (/ˈeɪmɪs/ AY-miss; 26 March 1952 – 15 October 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021. He previously served as MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Catholic with socially conservative political views, and was in favour of Britain leaving the European Union. > Born and raised in Essex, Amess studied economics and government at Bournemouth U... The murder of an MP hasn’t happened since the murder of Jo Cox in 2016, has it? > **[Murder of Jo Cox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox)** > > On 16 June 2016, Jo Cox, a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire. In November 2016, 53-year-old Thomas Alexander Mair was found guilty of her murder and other offences connected to the killing in an act of terrorism. The judge concluded that Mair wanted to advance white supremacy and exclusive nationalism most associated with Nazism and its modern forms. He was sentenced t... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/2 "2021-10-15T14:37:00Z")
I have to admit the phrase “[constituency surgery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgery_(politics))” was a new one to me but it’s equivalent to the events American officeholders have during which they meet constituents. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/3 "2021-10-15T14:46:25Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > after he was stabbed several times during a surgery at his constituency in Essex. Amess I read this and thought the surgeon had killed him by stabbing him with his surgical blade. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/4 "2021-10-15T15:06:17Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > > [@PastTense](#): > > > > after he was stabbed several times during a surgery at his constituency in Essex. Amess > > I read this and thought the surgeon had killed him by stabbing him with his surgical blade. - Same. Or someone got into the operating room. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/5 "2021-10-15T15:09:02Z")
A political surgery, constituency surgery, constituency clinic, mobile office or sometimes advice surgery, in British and Irish politics, is a series of one-to-one meetings that a Member of Parliament (MP), Teachta Dála (TD) or other political officeholder may have with their constituents. A GP surgery is: A generic UK term for the location where a GP regularly sees patients. A particular group of patients may be managed in the GP’s surgery (office—US) by a nurse or midwife in a particular timeslot during the week; that session is called a clinic. There is no suggestion that surgery will be carried out! A GP is a General Practitioner. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/6 "2021-10-15T20:25:37Z")
Very sorry to hear this. No elected official in a modern democracy should be in fear of constituents, or anyone else, while carrying out his or her duties in public. May Sir David rest in peace. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/7 "2021-10-15T20:38:10Z")
Agree. Political violence is a direct threat to any democratic foem of government. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/8 "2021-10-15T20:53:19Z")
From the Guardian article: > [@](#): > > The MP was also patron and president of the Music Man Project charity, an international music education service for people with disabilities. > > In 2019, he helped the charity – which he was involved with for more than 20 years – organise an event in which 200 children with learning disabilities played music at the Royal Albert Hall. > > The charity’s founder, David Stanley, said: “The news came as the most devastating shock. He gave me opportunities to do music, dinners and receptions at the House of Commons. > > “We were planning the next stage, which was we were hoping to perform on Broadway and do other shows at the Albert Hall. He was central to making those dreams come true. > > “As you can imagine, people with learning disabilities, that they can’t really change their own destiny, they need people to help them. Sir David was able to do things that I couldn’t do as a charity founder. He could and he was just amazing in what he did.” I expect I would have disagreed with him about a bunch of stuff, being a Tory and all, but he sounds like a decent guy. What a fucking senseless waste ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/9 "2021-10-16T02:25:58Z")
British police have released information indicating the attacker was a Muslim extremist, committing a deliberate act of terrorism against the British people. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/10 "2021-10-16T04:37:24Z")
> [@its\_the\_daddy](#): > > A GP is a General Practitioner. This term is one that Americans do use. As for the political surgery…kind of like a professor’s office hours, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/11 "2021-10-16T06:40:56Z")
Would it have been appropriate for someone in the Royal Family to make a statement? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/12 "2021-10-16T06:48:39Z")
Yes: The analogy is exactly with a GP: you go to your GP for advice on your health and diagnosis of your symptoms, and the GP is your guide and if necessary champion in accessing specialist medical care. You go to your MP if you have a problem with government. MPs are expected to spend a lot of time on constituency casework, and it’s usual for them to be available in the constituency, usually for a couple of hours around a weekend, for constituents to bring their various bureaucratic problems or other issues. Often these will be re-directed to some other channel (local government councillor, or whatever), but an enquiry from an MP’s office often un-gums the delay in Mrs Smith’s application for XYZ - and the nature and volume of the different problems gives the MP a handle on things going wrong in government, at the grass roots level. Here’s one senior MP’s [overview of how it works and how it’s changed over the years](https://www.harrietharman.org/advice_surgery). ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/13 "2021-10-16T10:16:38Z")
Horrible news. Sounds like he was a very decent and earnest figure. Never sought to put his career and power first by taking up a cabinet role in all his time but rather focused on his local constituents and charitable causes and clearly was very popular. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/14 "2021-10-16T16:43:08Z")
A doctor’s ‘office’ in American terms is called his ‘surgery’ here - even though precious little surgery is done there, and most of what there is will be done by the practice nurse. A doctor who became an MP started the concept of open sessions where his constituents could come to see him about their problems. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/15 "2021-10-16T16:48:47Z")
Queen guitarist Brian May posted this tribute to Amess yesterday; though I suspect that the two of them had different views on many issues (with May likely being far more liberal), he considered Amess an ally and friend. > [@](#): > > This man was gentle, amiable, a great supporter of the rights of both humans and animals, and, behind his friendly smile, a man not afraid to speak his mind, his truth … which is increasingly perilous in these troubled days. I fear this is the terrible price he paid. [https://brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssboct21a.html?fbclid=IwAR3RduQLiH7zWLeoQxkh-RDL775yr7M59X4ZmJI77Dz7acS88orcItexeKA#06](https://brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssboct21a.html?fbclid=IwAR3RduQLiH7zWLeoQxkh-RDL775yr7M59X4ZmJI77Dz7acS88orcItexeKA#06) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/16 "2021-10-16T16:49:52Z")
Exactly why this MP was chosen is at present unclear, as he did not have a particularly high profile. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/17 "2021-10-16T16:53:47Z")
Count me among those who were really, really confused by “constituency surgery”: he was stabbed while he was having a medical procedure done? in a church? or was he the surgeon? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/18 "2021-10-16T17:04:58Z")
It’s a _political_ “procedure”, and, yes, occasionally politicians do get murdered during such meetings. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/19 "2021-10-16T17:09:01Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Exactly why this MP was chosen is at present unclear, as he did not have a particularly high profile. I’m reminded, a bit, of the 2011 assassination attempt against [Gabby Giffords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabby_Giffords), a U.S. representative from Arizona, which occurred while she was holding a similar, public “meet your representative” event in her district. Giffords was critically injured, but survived; however, the gunman killed six others in the attack, and injured a number more. Giffords, too, was not a particularly high-profile figure, except perhaps on a local level. The gunman was a conspiracy theorist, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. It appears that he had a grudge against Giffords, though it also appears that a part of that grudge may have been based on a belief that women should not be in politics (as well as a general distrust of politicians). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548/20 "2021-10-16T17:15:59Z")
FWIW, it is somewhat rare for members of the U.S. House of Representatives to meet one-on-one with non-wealthy constituents who need their help in dealing with the government. Congressional districts are much bigger than British House of Commons constituencies, members of Congress have large staffs including people committed to constituent services, and unfortunately in recent years (thanks to bitter partisanship and enhanced security risks, as former Congresswoman Giffords could tell you) many members are these days even less likely to want to have face-to-face dealings with the public outside of their Capitol Hill or district offices. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-british-conservative-mp-david-amess-fatally-stabbed/952548.md?page=2)