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Original poster

An MP has just been stabbed.

522 replies

Cactus1982 · 15/10/2021 14:02

Breaking news on Sky. David Amess MP has been stabbed ‘multiple times’. Feels like Jo Cox all over again, surely MPs need security around them? Some of the comments they receive on social media are off the scale. All parties as well. I can’t imagine a US Senator wandering around without security?

OP posts:
Saucery · 15/10/2021 17:19

I just said this - a layer of glass between them like prison visits. Not ideal but I don’t think the level of risk is low enough to justify face to face surgeries any more.

Even before Covid, Post Offices, some A and E receptions, school offices etc had screens. I don’t see why this should be any different. We should expect our MPs to hold regular, timely and accessible surgeries. In return they should expect to be safe from people who wish to harm them, however they vote and however much we may disagree with their Party.

VeryLongBeeeeep · 15/10/2021 17:20

But why is it always the kindest people that are killed in this way? Of course that can't be the case. And I'm not saying that anyone should be stabbed or murdered. Of course they shouldn't.

Not to derail the thread and this is not a comment about David Amess at all, just a general response to the above from someone who used to work in the criminal justice system: it isn't only the kindest people - but often after a murder, that's how the victim is reported in the media in a 'never speak ill of the dead' way, even if they were e.g. a local drug dealer or similar. The majority of the murder cases we dealt with could have easily had victim and defendant reversed - knife fight between two local criminals gone wrong scenarios were very common, but the victim's pre-mortem criminality was hardly ever reported after their death.

(Still didn't/doesn't justify murder, of course.)

AnMPsWife · 15/10/2021 17:21

NC for this.

My husband is an MP. Today has felt like Jo Cox all over again. 😞

Really willed him to be ok. Hasn’t sunk in yet I don’t think.

Screens wouldn’t have helped Jo anyway as she was outside.

My husband stopped most of his open surgeries like David’s one today after Jo.
Obviously Covid stopped even more.

Security at his office and our home is already tight but will be tightened further.

People complain if they aren’t out and about, don’t campaign, etc. So they feel they have to. And most want to tbh, they need to hear about local issues from constituents.

He has a personal alarm and is now carrying it with him, as he should have been. Wouldn’t have saved David anyway.

ArblemarchTFruitbat · 15/10/2021 17:21

Tragic.

These awful stabbings might mean in the future, MPs will have good reason to be reluctant to do face to face surgeries - a loss for all of us.

My thoughts are with Sir David's family.

antoniawhite · 15/10/2021 17:23

I do wish people would stop speculating on the killer's motives and going on about Angela Rayner. We have no idea what was going through the killer's mind. How do you know he isn't suffering from a poorly managed mental illness? How would you know what his politics are?
None of us know, and it's really unhelpful and divisive to start the blame game.

Dontbeamugallyourlifesucker · 15/10/2021 17:24

Life long labour supporter here grin I hope the poor man is OK! So shocking.. What has the world come to! 😥 Hope he has a speedy recovery ❤️

So sorry😢 I have just come in from work and heard on the radio before I left work he had been stabbed.. I didn't know the poor man had died 😢 so so sad...

Dontbeamugallyourlifesucker · 15/10/2021 17:26

What is the world coming to! Sad

berlinbabylon · 15/10/2021 17:27

Not read the full thread but this is absolutely shocking. I don't know what to say. I cried when Jo Cox was stabbed and now it has happened again.

Flowers to his family.

HereticFanjo · 15/10/2021 17:27

It is utterly tragic that this man was murdered in the course of his work day. There is no defence for what happened. I am thinking about him and his family.

That said, I want to hear more about the circumstances behind this. I think there is a real danger at the minute that so many people feel utterly lost and without hope or access to the services they need. Our society is divided along so many lines but maybe most of all between the haves and the have nots. Let me be clear - there is no defence for what happened - but it does worry me that society is full of young men with very little hope or support. The Internet has given them a way to connect and radicalise each other. It puts us all at risk and it needs urgently examined.

MakingM2 · 15/10/2021 17:27

I see some of Mumsnet is plummeting to the low of blaming a MPs death on the random words of an MP they don’t like. The lack of awareness is unsurprising - perhaps you could reflect on the fact that immediately using a tragic event to attack someone you dislike for political reasons, might, perhaps, be part of the problem.

HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 15/10/2021 17:31

Rest in Peace and may the people who love him find strength and hope in their grief.💐💐 That’s all I’m going to say.

MrsSChylowen · 15/10/2021 17:32

Poor man, his poor family must be in bits. So sad, nobody should be murdered doing their job it's absolutely terrible.

All due respect to the deceased and his family

TurquoiseDress · 15/10/2021 17:32

This is so shocking

I remember so clearly the day Jo Cox was murdered 5 years ago

When news first broke, there was some hope she might survive, following news updates...same today with this poor man

RIP and thoughts to his family & loved ones Thanks

MakingM2 · 15/10/2021 17:34

@HereticFanjo

It is utterly tragic that this man was murdered in the course of his work day. There is no defence for what happened. I am thinking about him and his family.

That said, I want to hear more about the circumstances behind this. I think there is a real danger at the minute that so many people feel utterly lost and without hope or access to the services they need. Our society is divided along so many lines but maybe most of all between the haves and the have nots. Let me be clear - there is no defence for what happened - but it does worry me that society is full of young men with very little hope or support. The Internet has given them a way to connect and radicalise each other. It puts us all at risk and it needs urgently examined.

Agreed. Assuming this is politically motivated. It might not be. He may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t know.

The History of Ideas podcast is really good on the politics of this. The first episode about Hobbes - The purpose of politics is to prevent us from reaching a situation where one group of people feel that in order to exist then another group of people need to cease to exist. We do need to know more if we are to avoid our politics deteriorating further. As it was explained on that podcast, we’re not talking about this politics or that politics, but the difference between having a politics that prevents this kind of survivalist animosity and not having a politics at all.

antoniawhite · 15/10/2021 17:35

@AnMPsWife

NC for this.

My husband is an MP. Today has felt like Jo Cox all over again. 😞

Really willed him to be ok. Hasn’t sunk in yet I don’t think.

Screens wouldn’t have helped Jo anyway as she was outside.

My husband stopped most of his open surgeries like David’s one today after Jo.
Obviously Covid stopped even more.

Security at his office and our home is already tight but will be tightened further.

People complain if they aren’t out and about, don’t campaign, etc. So they feel they have to. And most want to tbh, they need to hear about local issues from constituents.

He has a personal alarm and is now carrying it with him, as he should have been. Wouldn’t have saved David anyway.

I'm really sorry. Today must feel very frightening for you.
TheMagiciansNiece · 15/10/2021 17:39

I'm not trying to score points, I'm trying to make her realise that there are many reasons why people may be angry with the government. Equally the killer may have had a personal grudge. Who knows? But to come out and blatantly blame one individual's comments is shameful.

RedToothBrush · 15/10/2021 17:40

He may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time

He was in a church. He was an MP.

People don't just randomly trip over in a church with a knife and repeatedly stab someone who just happens to be an MP.

I think we can probably eliminate the 'wrong place, wrong time' hypothesis.

cloudberry12 · 15/10/2021 17:41

A terrible tragedy. RIP

I wonder though whether this was done by some nutter because of his anti fox hunting stance? Haven't the attacks against environmental or animal rights campaigners (e.g. Chris Packham) escalated recently, and the pro fox hunting lobby has always been aggressive.

Viviennemary · 15/10/2021 17:46

I'd say inflammatory remarks like calling people scum should result in immediate expulsion from the political party and withdrawal of the whip. If not a permanent ban from the House. But nothing absolutely nothing done. And that dreadful Tory MP who made the vile hateful joke years ago should have been out too. About the Chinese cockle pickers who died.

Glassofshloer · 15/10/2021 17:48

He may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time

No such thing.

Bigredtaxi · 15/10/2021 17:51

My hometown is Southend. He was the MP there from 1997 when I was 8 Sad I’m not a Tory supporter, but it makes me so very sad, he was one of the good guys. A staunch supporter of animal rights and always championing Southend. A really sad day.

AnMPsWife · 15/10/2021 17:53

@antoniawhite Thank You. It has been. We got a call to lockdown at lunchtime - DH was home at the time thankfully. He was on the phone shaking, I was calling his office to tell them to lock the doors and not move. We didn’t know if there could be more attacks.

When it became clear it was a lone attacker we could breathe a bit but then the medical side of things got worse.

We’ve known him for 15+ years, he’s always just been around.

Having to explain to the DC (they were all a bit too young to know about Jo) wasn’t fun. And telling them not to open the door to anyone. Telling neighbours to be on the lookout for anything strange.

Luckily 2 police officers moved in next door a few months ago, they make me feel safer. (No clue what role they have though!)

Original poster
Cactus1982 · 15/10/2021 17:54

@cloudberry12

A terrible tragedy. RIP

I wonder though whether this was done by some nutter because of his anti fox hunting stance? Haven't the attacks against environmental or animal rights campaigners (e.g. Chris Packham) escalated recently, and the pro fox hunting lobby has always been aggressive.

I had wondered that as well. The pro hunt lobby are absolutely bonkers and unhinged.
OP posts:
SueSaid · 15/10/2021 18:02

[quote TheMagiciansNiece]@personanongrata

FFS stop trying to make this Labour's fault.

Maybe the killer was angry that this government has let thousands of people die from Covid?

Or that Universal Credit is being taken away?

Or that the NHS is being stealthily privatised?

Etc etc.

No, obviously Angela Rayner's fault.

A man has been brutally murdered - stop trying to score political points from a tragic death.[/quote]
@TheMagiciansNiece

I'd be embarrassed by this highly contradictory post if I were you..

trollopolis · 15/10/2021 18:09

The Telegraph has just reported that a 25 yo Somaliam man has been arrested.

I assume they are correct in the report (being very MSM) and so I doubt fox hunting is a factor. Though I suppose anyone couid have any motive