UK PM Johnson visits church where lawmaker was stabbed to death By Reuters

By Peter Nicholls and Ben Makori

LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday laid flowers on the church the place a lawmaker was stabbed to dying a day earlier, in what police say was a terrorist assault in all probability linked to Islamist extremism.

The assault on David Amess, from Johnson’s Conservative Get together, comes 5 years after the homicide of Jo Cox, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Get together, and has prompted a evaluation of the safety of elected politicians.

Amess, 69, was knifed repeatedly within the assault at about noon on Friday in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, throughout a gathering with constituents.

Police arrested a 25-year-old British man on the scene on suspicion of homicide, including it’s believed he acted alone.

In an announcement early on Saturday, police stated the early investigation had revealed a possible motivation linked to Islamist extremism.

Johnson, inside minister Priti Patel, and Labour Get together chief Keir Starmer had been amongst these to put flowers in tribute to Amess on the scene of the homicide.

Johnson and Starmer stood facet by facet in a second of silence earlier than leaving. On Friday, Johnson stated Britain had misplaced a positive public servant and a much-loved buddy and colleague.

As tributes poured in for Amess, politicians described the assault as an assault on democracy. Patel has stated she’s going to evaluation the security of elected politicians.

In Westminster, the place lawmakers, often known as MPs, do a lot of their work in parliament, armed police are on patrol. However of their electoral districts, often known as constituencies, as a rule there is no such thing as a safety.

Amess was stabbed whereas holding a surgical procedure – one-to-one conferences with voters, open to whoever turns up.

Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood stated that whereas engagement with the general public was an important a part of the job, there was now large anxiousness amongst MPs.

“Till the Dwelling Secretary’s (Patel) evaluation of MP safety is full I’d suggest a brief pause in head to head conferences,” he stated on Twitter (NYSE:).