Murder of David Amess

On 15 October 2021, David Amess, a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. His killer, Ali Harbi Ali, a British citizen and Islamic State sympathiser, was arrested at the scene. In April 2022, Ali was convicted of murder and the preparation of terrorist acts, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

David Amess was a long-serving politician who entered Parliament in 1983 as MP for Basildon; at the time of his death, he was MP for Southend West. He held no senior positions during his career but was described by journalist Nick Paton Walsh as an "instantly recognisable" member of the Conservative Party, and was knighted for his political and public service in 2015. He was a devout Catholic and a socially conservative politician who opposed abortion, supported capital punishment, and campaigned in favour of Brexit. He was a supporter of animal welfare and supported a ban on fox hunting. He also supported a campaign to award city status to Southend-on-Sea, the main town of his constituency.

Amess's voting record on UK airstrikes in Syria as well as his membership with the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) were later cited by Ali as motives for his murder. Ali said during police interviews that he had been influenced by the propaganda of militant leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, who had called on Muslims to attack people in their home countries who were deemed to be enemies of the Islamic State (IS).

This was the second killing of an MP in the 21st century, following the murder in June 2016 of the Labour MP Jo Cox, while en route to a constituency surgery. Amess wrote in his 2020 autobiography that fears of similar attacks "rather spoilt the great British tradition of the people openly meeting their elected politicians", and that he had faced "nuisance from the odd member of the general public" and insecurity at his own home. MPs are protected by armed police within Parliament, with security tightened following the 2017 Westminster attack. They are generally not given police protection during surgeries, and are normally accompanied by only one member of staff. Following Cox's death, parliamentary spending on MPs' personal security rose from under £200,000 to £4.5 million in two years. Amess's murder was the second killing of a British MP in five years and prompted renewed calls for better security.

On 15 October 2021, Amess held a constituency surgery at the church hall of Belfairs Methodist Church on Eastwood Road North in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. He was scheduled to meet constituents from 10 am to 1 pm. He held a virtual meeting on Zoom with a colleague and talked to local residents on the steps of the hall before entering the building around 12:05 pm, accompanied by two female members of staff, to speak with people who had arrived earlier. While inside the church hall, a man armed with a knife emerged from a group of constituents and stabbed Amess multiple times.

Police and paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes. The suspect waited inside the church hall, where he was arrested and a police cordon was set up. An air ambulance landed at Belfairs Sports Ground to take Amess to hospital, but the medical team decided that his condition was not stable enough to transport him and so continued to work on him at the scene. His death was confirmed at 1:13 pm. ^{[further explanation needed]}

Following the attack, Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to London, where flags were lowered to half-mast. Various parliamentary groups, and current and former politicians from across the political spectrum, expressed shock and offered condolences, as did members of the British royal family, international politicians, and relatives of Jo Cox. A vigil for Amess was held in his Southend West constituency at 6 pm on the day of his death, and another the next day.

Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, announced that the security of MPs would be reviewed. The safety of MPs during open, public constituency surgeries was debated by politicians. Calls to enact a law to crack down on online targeting of MPs and end anonymity were made. The Conservatives suspended political campaigning.