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Laughter, tears but most of all cheers as the Commons paid fitting tribute to Sir David Amess

It fell to his fellow Essex MPs to capture best the gentle style but determined politics of one of their own

There was lots of laughter and there were some tears, but what Sir David Amess would have appreciated most were the cheers. The loud roar, from both sides of the Commons, that followed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of Southend’s city status, was indeed a fitting tribute to the man.

The Prime Minister’s announcement that the Queen would grant the honour was a long-awaited victory for the late backbencher’s irrepressible campaign to get his constituency the recognition – and crucially the regeneration and investment – he felt it deserved. 

And as the PM pointed out, behind Sir David’s famous megawatt smile lay “a seasoned campaigner of verve and grit”.

More than anything, certainly more than any personal ambition, he was in politics to improve the lives of those he represented.

He was a grassroots deliverer, a doer, and such direct help for his local area was a posthumous triumph.

The many speeches in this special session of the Commons were as heartfelt as they were moving, and his beloved Parliament did him proud.

In fact, what was perhaps the most telling feature of the entire two hours of tributes was that Sir David brought out the best in his colleagues as they rose to the occasion.

Both the Prime Minister and Keir Starmer made impressive speeches, but it was the accounts of the late MP’s friends and backbench colleagues that had the power of heartbroken familiarity. 

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The genuine cross-party affection was palpable, and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith rightly identified that backbenchers can only succeed in getting change, through Private Member’s Bills or amending legislation, through genuine co-operation. 

That unity was underlined when the House of Commons held its minute of silence, turning what is often a cacophonous bearpit into an utterly still sanctuary of calm and reflection.

The sanctuary of the church where Sir David was killed, and the sanctuary of a constituency advice surgery itself, were both violently abused last Friday.

Yet, as many MPs reflected, it was his devout Catholic faith and a culture of kindness that sustained him.

Notably, the Prime Minister, who was married in the same Westminster Cathedral as Sir David, made a rare reference to Christianity.

“There can be few among us more justified in their faith in the resurrection and the life to come,” he said. After Labour’s Mike Kane said that choirs of angels would welcome the late MP, fellow Catholic and Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg crossed himself.

It fell to his two closest Parliamentary friends, James Duddridge and Mark Francois, to sum him up best. 

It was Duddridge who captured the practical joker (he introduced his colleague to strangers as someone who had “recently got out of prison”), an eternal optimist who regaled everyone with the story of having had a boiled sweet once blessed by the Pope.

He rightly described the 69-year-old as “sprightly” and someone “cut short in their prime”, a Parliamentarian and father with much more to give in his public and personal life.

But it was Francois’ passion and righteous anger at the death of his colleague that moved the chamber most.

His description of Basildon’s Labour voters, telling Tories on the doorstep they would never vote Conservative and preferred to vote instead “for that David Amess”, neatly caught the working-class appeal of the politician whose beaming smile came to symbolise the 1992 Tory election victory.

Francois’ attack on social media companies, with a call for online anonymity to be in the Online Harms Bill to be rechristened “David’s Law”, struck a chord. Yet in the end it was the emotional tribute to Sir David’s way of doing politics that really hit MPs most.

When Francois said he was known affectionately as ‘the late Sir David Amess’ because he constantly overran his constituency engagements, his voice faltered as he said “now he really is the late Sir David Amess…”

It was his final words, as he fought back tears, that were the most affecting.

“He’s now resting in the arms of the God he worshiped so devotedly his whole life…farewell then my colleague, my great friend…”

On the front bench, government whip and Essex MP Rebecca Harris dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. And she was not the only one.

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