Lawmaker's killing wounds 'British tradition' of openness
ABC News
The fatal stabbing of a British lawmaker has cast fresh doubt on the continued viability of what he had called “the great British tradition” of parliamentarians readily meeting voters
The name alone — “the surgery" — evokes a place where help is sought and given. British lawmaker David Amess, like others, hosted his all-are-welcome surgeries regularly, meeting the voters he represented with a smile and a ready ear for whatever concerns, problems, gripes and hopes they might have.
Shockingly for a country proud of its parliamentary democracy that has served as a model for systems of government elsewhere, Amess' availability ultimately also cost him his life.
The fatal stabbing of the long-serving Member of Parliament in an attack Friday that police were investigating as a terrorist incident immediately cast fresh doubt on whether it remains safe and reasonable for British parliamentarians to continue meeting so readily and openly with voters.
Their so-called “surgeries” set British MPs apart from lawmakers in other countries where the governed rarely — if ever — get to meet those who govern them. Being able to drop by, even without an appointment, to chat with and perhaps to chide those in power helps keep British politicians engaged with their communities and allows voters to raise and vent about problems that otherwise could fester if ignored.
