‘He was Southend': Tributes paid to slain British lawmaker

LEIGH-ON-SEA, England — 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. “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 U.K. 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. 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. “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.