British lawmaker David Amess stabbed to death

British Conservative MP David Amess has died after being stabbed at an event in his local constituency in southeast England, British media said Friday.

Police did not name Amess but said: “A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed in Leigh-on-Sea” and that the victim “later died”.

Amess was holding a his regular weekly meeting with constituents at the Belfairs Methodist Church, in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea.

He had advertised the event on his official Twitter account.

My next constituency surgery will be taking place on Friday 15th October at Belfairs Methodist Church, 251 Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 4NG.

To book an appointment please email [email protected] or call 020 7219 3452 pic.twitter.com/aHhxWPrXXi

— Sir David Amess MP (@amessd_southend) October 12, 2021

Conservative councillor and former Southend mayor John Lamb, who was at the scene, told local newspaper the Southend Echo: “All we know is that David has been stabbed several times.

“He is still at the church and they won’t let us go in to see him. It does look very serious.”

There was no immediate comment from Johnson, who was leading an away-day for senior ministers in the west of England.

But David Cameron, one of his Tory predecessors in Downing Street, said: “Very alarming and worrying news reports coming from Leigh-on-Sea.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer called the news “horrific and deeply shocking”.

An eye-witness, identified only as Anthony, told radio station LBC that the scene was “completely and utterly swamped by police, ambulance, armed police.

“I saw someone get taken out the building, put into the back of a police car. Apparently he was stabbed quite a few times.”

Other British MPs have been attacked at similar constituency events, including Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016 in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

The Jo Cox Foundation, which was set up in her memory, tweeted that it was “horrified to hear the news of the attack on Sir David Amess MP.

“We are thinking of him, his family and loved ones at this distressing time,” it added.

Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed multiple times during an event in 2010, but recovered from “potentially life-threatening injuries and is still an MP.

Timms said he was “appalled” at the latest attack.

In January 2000, Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was injured and his assistant killed by a man wielding a ceremonial sword at a constituency surgery in Cheltenham, western England.