Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked all police forces to immediately review security arrangements for MPs following the death of Sir David Amess.
Following the killing of Sir David at his constituency surgery in Essex on Friday afternoon, Ms Patel chaired a meeting of police, security and intelligence agencies and also spoke to House of Commons’ Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
“The home secretary has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs with immediate effect and will provide updates in due course,” a spokesman for Ms Patel said.
Sir David died after being stabbed at a surgery – where MPs offer face-to-face meetings with constituents – in his Southend West constituency in Leigh-on-Sea.
Sir Lindsay also promised to “examine” safety measures for MPs following the killing of Sir David, but cautioned against a “kneejerk reaction”.
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He described himself as “shocked and deeply distressed” by Sir David’s death – the second killing of an MP in their own constituency in little more than five years.
Sir Lindsay told Sky News that he had gone ahead with his own constituency surgery on Friday following the news of Sir David’s death.
“Nothing will stop democracy, nothing will stop us carrying out our duties,” he said. “Those people who don’t value the job that we do, those people who don’t support us will not win – hence why I’ve had my surgery tonight.”
Sir Lindsay said he would continue to “look at” security measures, adding: “We won’t sit back on our laurels, of course we know the challenges.
“We’ve got to protect MPs and allow them to carry out their duties. The duties that the electorate put them there for – to speak, to meet and to make sure that their views are conveyed to parliament.”
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Sister of Jo Cox in shock over MP death
Labour MP Lucy Powell on Friday night revealed she had received “a number of reassuring calls from Greater Manchester Police” with “some extra measures and support being put in place”.
Sir David’s death follows the 2016 murder of Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was shot and stabbed in her Yorkshire constituency on the day when she had been due to hold a surgery.
But senior Tories have urged caution over new security measures that would move MPs away from meeting with members of the public.
Lord Pickles, a former Conservative Party chairman who was an MP for 25 years before joining the House of Lords, acknowledged that security risks were “part of the job” for parliamentarians.
“It’s something you sign up to,” he told Sky News.
“There are some places in the world… where they [politicians] operate in a bubble, where they are a political class.
“But you could see David on the train to Southend, you could see David in local restaurants, you could see David just about anywhere.
“David’s accessibility was one of the reasons why he was such an effective operator inside parliament, inside politics.”
Lord Pickles described Sir David’s death as “tragic”, “dreadful” and “not normal”, but added: “We live in an age where sometimes you have to take risks.
“No one expects you to die, of course you don’t, but you don’t expect it to be entirely risk free.
“A doctor doesn’t entirely expect themselves to be risk free, a nurse doesn’t entirely expect themselves to be risk free, in teaching you are taking some risks.
“When you’re dealing with people who are often emotional, who feel like the system has let them down, often they’ll look for someone to blame.
“But, you know, if we sort of close up shop and just disappear behind a security bubble, it is democracy itself that will be the lesser thing.”
Image: Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in June 2016
Lord Pickles’s fellow former Tory cabinet minister, ex-Brexit secretary David Davis, told Sky News that Sir David would “hate” the idea of MPs being distanced from their constituents.
“It’s an awful paradox, frankly, that it was in his constituency surgery that he was attacked and killed,” he said.
“I do hope – and I think he would hope – that one of the outcomes of this is not that we distance ourselves from constituents.
“He would hate that idea.”
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Eyewitness video at MP attack scene
Pauline Latham, Conservative MP for Mid Derbyshire, told Sky News there was a need to review MPs’ security.
“We can’t be totally protected,” she said. “There will always be nutcases who will try to stifle democracy, there will always be unpleasant people who will try to cause mayhem and we’re no different from any other member of the public.
“But we do put ourselves in a vulnerable position over surgeries.
“Maybe we need more security at places like that where the public know where we are – and so perhaps there should be a bigger police presence supporting MPs.”
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‘A stalwart of parliament, a great man’ – Hoyle
Kim Leadbeater, the sister of Jo Cox who is now a Labour MP herself, said that many MPs will be “scared” by the death of Sir David.
“It’s so hard because we’ve got a job to do,” she said. “I find myself now working as a politician and trying to help people and trying to do good things for people.
“It’s really important that we get good people in public life. But this is the risk that we’re all taking. So many MPs today will be scared by this.
“My partner came home and said ‘I don’t want you to do it anymore, because the next time that phone goes it could be a different conversation’.”
Ms Leadbeater said that safety was “always on my mind everywhere I go and everything I do” but added she was “really well looked after by the police”.
The amount of money spent protecting MPs rose substantially following the murder of Jo Cox in June 2016.
Accounts from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority showed MPs spent £2.5m on security in 2016/17 – up from £170,000 the previous year.
Image: Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach at a constituency surgery in east London in 2010
The murder of Jo Cox came six years after Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach at a constituency surgery in east London.
Roshonara Choudhry, a 21-year-old student, was later found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for a minimum of 15 years.
During her trial, a court heard Choudhry had made a list of MPs who had voted for the Iraq war.
Mr Timms underwent emergency surgery but survived the attack and continues to serve as MP for East Ham.
In January 2000, Andrew Pennington died while saving the life of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones when they were attacked with a Samurai sword.
The 39-year-old, who was acting as an assistant to Mr Jones, was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery.
Nigel Farage has confirmed he wants to deport women asylum seekers back to the Taliban in Afghanistan if he becomes prime minister.
The Reform UK leader’s position on the topic has not been clear, with him previously saying he would send women back to the fundamentalist regime that took over after western militaries withdrew, before now saying he would.
Mr Farage was speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham.
When asked if he would “detain” women and children and “send them back”, the Clacton MP said “yes”.
Challenged on when he said in August that he was not “discussing” women and children, Mr Farage claimed this was a reference to his desire to seeing men detained on arrival in the UK.
At the time he said he was “very, very clear” on the “deportation of illegal immigrants”, adding: “We are not even discussing women and children at this stage – there are so many illegal males in Britain, and the news reports that said that after my conference yesterday were wrong”
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Speaking today, Mr Farage claimed that the UK has a “duty of care” if a four-year-old arrives in a dinghy, for example – but not so for women and men.
“For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women,” Mr Farage went on.
“Children, we’ll have to think about.”
The Reform leader also rowed back on his pledge to stop all boats within two weeks if he is elected prime minister.
Speaking to the conference yesterday, Mr Farage said: “You cannot come here illegally and stay – we will stop the boats within two weeks of winning government.”
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But speaking to Beth Rigby today, he changed tack – saying “the passing of legislation” would be required.
He said the boats would then be stopped within two weeks, or sooner.
In the interview with Rigby, Mr Farage tried to claim he did not say he would end the boats within two weeks of “winning government”.
But the video of his speech, as well as the transcript released by Reform UK, clearly show him saying: “We will stop the boats within two weeks of winning government.”
When asked why he wouldn’t be able to stop the boats within two weeks of winning government, Mr Farage said it was impossible and “no one” can prevent them crossing the Channel.
The Reform UK leader said the law he wants to introduce will be called the Illegal Migration Act once it is passed by parliament.
He confirmed his agenda includes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, shutting down asylum hotels and housing people at RAF bases instead, as well as deporting Channel migrants.
Mr Farage also claimed that deportation flights would also begin within two weeks of the law changing, and this combination of factors would stop people from wanting to travel from France.
This strategy all depends on Reform UK winning the next general election – which Labour does not have to call until 2029.
However, Mr Farage says he believes the government will collapse in 2027 due to economic pressure and other factors.
Reform are currently well clear of Labour and the Conservatives in the polling, and are targeting next year’s Welsh, Scottish and English local election to try and win more power in councils and national assemblies.