My sincere sympathies for the British people, about the murder of Sir David Amess

[steve2470]

I may be American, but I can empathize with the shock of the British people at the murder of yet another MP. Sir David Amess may have been an ardent pro-Brexiteer, but I know no one on the anti-Brexit side wanted him murdered in cold blood. Political violence is wrong, if that was the motive. I was sad about Labor MP Jo Cox's murder in 2016 also.

My condolences to his family, and my sympathies to the British people and to the British DU'ers.

Steve

[Layzeebeaver]

1. there now exists a latent distain...

...for the tory government.

I would expect to see more of this reactionary behaviour in the next few years.

It shouldn't happen, but it will.

[T_i_B]

2. All it will achieve...

...is to cause the government to introduce increasing security measures that will only serve to make MP's even more distant from the people they are elected to serve, and make it it much more difficult to make contact with your local MP.

Nothing good will come of this tragedy.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Exactly

And this shouldn't be reduced to party politics.

In the last 11 years, four MPs were either assassinated or placed in serious danger of assassination.

David Amess. Tory. Assassinated in 2021.

Jo Cox. Labour. Assassinated in 2016, by a far-right nationalist.

Stephen Timms: Labour. Stabbed and seriously injured in 2011, by a radical Islamist. Fortunately recovered and is still an MP.

Rosie Cooper. Labour. Targeted for assassination by a far-right nationalist group. Is alive today, because one of the plotters defected and turned informer. Several people were convicted of the plot in 2018.

It certainly does not appear that Tories are particularly targetted. Political violence can happen to anyone and for any of several motives, of which simply being anti-Tory or anti-Labour does not seem to be one. In the 70s and 80s, several MPs were victims of actual or attempted murder, and the usual motive was IRA support.

Totally horrible, whatever the motive.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The suspect is a Muslim thought to have been radicalized

Son of ex-Somali political aide held over UK lawmaker stabbing

Ali Harbi Ali, the son of an ex-media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia, has been arrested by British police under anti-terrorism laws following the killing of lawmaker David Amess, a source close to the investigation and British media said.

Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old British man at the scene on suspicion of murder and have said it is believed he acted alone. They have not named the suspect but used additional powers under anti-terrorism laws to detain him until Oct. 22.
...
Harbi Ali Kullane, the father of Ali Harbi Ali, told The Sunday Times that his son had been arrested in connection with the murder.

"At this particular moment we are going through (an)unprecedented and horrific situation," Harbi Ali Kullane, a former adviser to Hassan Ali Khaire, a former Somali prime minister, told Reuters in an email when asked about this.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-says-considering-more-safety-measures-lawmakers-after-attack-2021-10-17/

Ali Harbi Ali was arrested on Friday at the scene of the attack at a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Sir David, MP for Southend West, had been holding his weekly constituency surgery.
...
He was previously referred to the government's Prevent scheme, which is a programme to stop radicalisation, a Whitehall source said.

However, he is not thought to have been on the radar of the security service, MI5.

https://news.sky.com/story/sir-david-amess-murder-terror-suspect-accused-of-killing-mp-is-son-of-former-top-aide-to-somali-pm-12436198

It's not about disdain for Tories; it's religious terrorism.