Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after being stabbed at his local constituency surgery in a church.
The 69-year-old was attacked on Friday at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.
Speaking to Premier about the attack prior to the news of his death, Christian MP and colleague Sir Gary Streeter told Premier: "It's really shocking news. David is a wonderful member of parliament, very popular at Westminster, a lovely Christian man, a lovely family...very much a constituency member of parliament, conducting his constituency surgery today and this dreadful thing has happened to him."
Essex Police said: "A man has been arrested on suspicion murder after a man was stabbed in Leigh-on-Sea.
"We were called to an address in Eastwood Road North shortly after 12.05pm today (Friday 15 October).
"We attended and found a man injured.
"He was treated by emergency services but, sadly, died at the scene.
"A 25 year-old man was quickly arrested after officers arrived at the scene on suspicion of murder and a knife was recovered.
"He is currently in custody.
"We are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident."
Streeter told Premier that questions will now need to be asked about the safety of MPs.
He said: "I think this is the third stabbing in my nearly 30 years at Westminster. There’s been a sense of vulnerability about the way we conduct our business. And I think this may actually help us to reach certain decisions about whether or not we can now conduct constituency surgeries on our own or without some kind of security or without better security, because it's a turbulent old world out there. I’m shocked by this news. It’s a terrible at old world and we are vulnerable. We want to do our constituency business, we want to be available and accessible to our constituents. But I think this might be just one stabbing too many.
"It’s absolutely crucial to have a strong Christian faith at these very rocky times, and we can stand together. We can stand together and support one another, with heart full of love and encouragement for each other and just wanting the best for our colleagues.
"I think this will cause quite a few of us to reflect on whether we can continue with surgeries face to face without any sort of screening because lots of us have been having surgeries either on the telephone or by zoom in the last 18 months. And it may well be that that's a better option. But we have to do our democratic job, we have to be accessible to constituents. So there are never any guarantees, but I do think this will be a bit of a wake up call."
