When we left Westminster for conference recess, a few short weeks ago, I could not have imagined how sad the place would feel when I returned this week. It was devastating enough to hear that James Brokenshire had lost his fight with cancer last week, but the appalling murder of Sir David Amess took this to a whole new level. The whole of Westminster felt in shock on Monday and I anticipate it remaining so for some time as people attempt to process the enormity of what happened last Friday. On Monday I sat in the chamber and listened to the many tributes to Sir David from across the house, they were unanimous in their reflections of a man who was universally liked. Whilst Sir David had been in parliament for close to 40 years, he had never become a minister, he spent his entire time as a backbench MP and was totally committed to his constituents. This did not mean he was not active in parliament as he pursued many causes and delivered real legislative change. There were numerous stories told about his life in politics and I will share just a couple here with you now.
Sir David was a committed Roman Catholic and one story refers to one of his visits to the Vatican. On this occasion, when queuing to meet the Pope, he inadvertently produced from his pocket a boiled sweet at precisely the time that he was in front of the Pope. The result of this was that his boiled sweet was blessed by His Holiness. This boiled sweet became legendary in subsequent meetings between Sir David and constituents. Another example of his sense of humour arose when he was made a Sir. David celebrated this honour by dressing as a knight of old and riding a horse through his constituency, as a committed monarchist he was incredibly proud to have been knighted.
Characters like Sir David and gentlemen like James were key parliamentarians, both James and Sir David will leave a big hole in Westminster as they both reflected the best of us. James progressed to ministerial level and Sir David remained a backbencher, but they were both described by so many as ‘nice people’ and the more people we can have described as such, the better.
One of the concerns of incidents like the atrocious attack on Sir David is the potential for reactions that impact on our underlying democracy. I absolutely share the concerns being raised about the safety of both my staff and constituents when surgeries take place, but I believe that the opportunity for people to engage directly with their MP is a fundamental tenet of open democracy. I will, of course, look to take prudent safety measures but I will continue to offer access to all constituents. This will be by phone, zoom, teams etc., if residents wish, but I shall also continue to facilitate face to face meetings as well.
Please remember that we have a very precious democratic nation that we all should be proud of and I would encourage everyone to not undermine this by abusing our fellow citizens. The recent trend for abuse of people in public life is something we can all work to address. Whether we are referring to MPs, local Councillors, or indeed key workers like shop workers or those in our NHS; it is imperative that we remember that they are people doing a job to the best of their ability. We see too many examples of these people being abused either physically or on social media. This needs to stop and everyone needs to be less aggressive and more considerate. With particular regard to social media, I am increasingly of the opinion that anonymity for those abusing others is inappropriate. I believe that there needs to be an acceptance by platforms like Facebook and Twitter that they have an obligation to identify and share with the authorities the details of those who choose to use their platforms inappropriately and if they do not, then we should legislate accordingly.
Moving to ‘normal’ business, this week saw the start of the committee stage line by line review of the Nationality and Borders Bill with sessions scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, mornings and afternoons, for the next few weeks. This will take up a significant part of my week, but it is an important bill.
Finally, can I continue to encourage all of you to have any Covid booster or Flu jabs you are offered, to keep us all healthy over the coming months.
Stay safe
Paul Howell, MP for Sedgefield