Sir David Amess, Member of Parliament for Southend West, has been stabbed to death at a constituency meeting.
The 69-year-old was knifed several times at a surgery in Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea shortly after midday today.
In a statement, Essex Police said: “A 25-year-old man was quickly arrested after officers arrived at the scene on suspicion of murder and a knife was recovered.”
The Prime Minister and Home Secretary are reported to be on their way back to London after their cabinet meeting was cancelled.
Tributes have flooded in from across the political spectrum. Sir David’s death comes little more than five years after the Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist in her Batley and Spen constituency.
That followed the events of May 2010, when East Ham MP Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the abdomen by Roshonara Choudhry, an Islamic extremist who claimed she had wanted “to get revenge for the people of Iraq”.
We have a grimly fuller list on the history of attacks against MPs here.
In the comment pages, Dorothy Byrne, whose words warning women about their fertility caused a stir this week, writes that she has no regrets and wishes she’d been old to try for a baby earlier.
And finally, Suzannah Ramsdale celebrates the return of Adele who, unfiltered and charming, “still feels like your best mate, mum and sister rolled into one.”
Have a lovely weekend.
