David Amess

Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess (26 March 1952 – 15 October 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021.

David Anthony Andrew Amess was born on 26 March 1952 in Plaistow, Essex (now part of Newham, London).

From a working-class background, he was the son of James Amess, an electrician, and his wife Maud Martin, a dressmaker.

Amess was raised Catholic, like his mother.

Amess taught disabled children at St John the Baptist Primary School in Bethnal Green for a year (1970–71), and then spent a short time as an underwriter (1974–76) before becoming a recruitment consultant.

He unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for Newham North West in the 1977 Greater London Council election.

He contested the safe Labour Party seat of Newham North West at the 1979 general election.

The seat was retained by Labour's MP Arthur Lewis.

He was elected a Conservative councillor for Redbridge in 1982 and MP for Basildon at the 1983 general election.

His position was seen as a bellwether seat, exemplifying the enthusiasm of the "Essex man" for the government of Margaret Thatcher.

In 1982, Amess was elected as a Conservative councillor to the London Borough of Redbridge's Mayfield ward, with his party forming the majority administration.

He served as vice chairman of the Housing Committee from 1982 until 1985 and stood down for the 1986 local elections.

He previously served as MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997.

A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Catholic with socially conservative political views, and was in favour of Britain leaving the European Union.

Born and raised in Essex, Amess studied economics and government at Bournemouth University and then had short careers as a primary school teacher, underwriter and recruitment consultant.

The incumbent Conservative MP for Basildon, Harvey Proctor, moved to Billericay in the 1983 general election; Amess was selected to replace him and was elected Member of Parliament for Basildon on 9 June 1983.

He exemplified the new demographic of "Essex man" who supported Margaret Thatcher enthusiastically.

Campaign described him as "representative of new Essex man, working class, father electrician, right wing, keen hanger, noisily rambunctious, no subtlety".

Amess continued serving as an MP and a local councillor until 1986, when he stood down from Redbridge Borough Council to concentrate on his Westminster seat.

He held his Basildon seat narrowly at the 1987 general election, partly by developing a significant personal following.

After the election, Amess was appointed a parliamentary private secretary to Michael Portillo, a position he held for ten years throughout Portillo's ministerial career.

He held the seat in the election of 1992, but when boundary changes made it untenable, he became MP for Southend West at the 1997 general election and served the constituency until his death.

In government, his highest position was as parliamentary private secretary to Michael Portillo for twelve years.

He was more prominent as a backbencher, serving on many select committees and sponsoring several pieces of legislation, including the and the.

The causes for which he campaigned included animal welfare, awarding city status to Southend-on-Sea, the honouring of Raoul Wallenberg, and support for those suffering from endometriosis.

On 15 October 2021, Amess was murdered at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea by Ali Harbi Ali.

Southend was granted city status as a memorial to Amess in 2022.

Amess held his seat again at the 1992 general election, which was the first sign that the Conservatives would unexpectedly win that election; the Basildon constituency was viewed as the make-or-break milestone.

In June 1995, Amess was selected for Southend West after the retirement of former Cabinet minister Paul Channon.

Prior to the 1997 general election, there was a boundary review which divided the Basildon seat into two parts, which were added into two neighbouring seats.

At the time, Amess remarked that the Boundary Commission "had raped the town of Basildon" by adding an extra seat there.

Given his small majority, the new Basildon constituency was almost certainly going to be gained by Labour.

Amess thus decided to seek re-election elsewhere.

He was consequently returned to Westminster again in the 1997 general election.

Angela Evans Smith won the newly-drawn Basildon seat for Labour in 1997 by over 13,000 votes.

Maud died on 12 October 2016 at the age of 104.

Amess attended St Anthony's Junior and Infant School, then St Bonaventure's Grammar School (now St Bonaventure's Catholic School) on Boleyn Road in Forest Gate.

He said later in life that his political interests stemmed from his time at St Bonaventure's, where he stood for the Revolutionist Party, whose key demands were for minimum pocket money and the abolition of homework; by the time he became an adult, he was a Conservative.

As a child he had a stammer, and speech therapy to correct this resulted in the loss of his natural Cockney accent.

Amess went on to Bournemouth College of Technology (now Faculty of Science and Technology of Bournemouth University), where he earned a bachelor's degree (BSc Econ Hons 2.2) in economics and government.