Leaders pay tribute at church where British MP was killed
CTV
Leaders from across the political spectrum came together Saturday to pay tribute to a long-serving British MP who was stabbed to death in what police have described as a terrorist incident.
His death has reopened questions about the security of lawmakers as they go about their work.
The slaying Friday of the 69-year-old Conservative member of Parliament David Amess during a regular meeting with local voters has caused shock and anxiety across Britain's political spectrum, just five years after Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist in her small-town constituency.
"He was killed doing a job that he loves, serving his own constituents as an elected democratic member and, of course, acts of this are absolutely wrong, and we cannot let that get in the way of our functioning democracy," British Home Secretary Priti Patel said after she joined others, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to pay tribute to Amess at the church where he died.
Patel said she has already convened meetings with the Speaker of the House of Commons, police departments and U.K. security services "to make sure that all measures are being put in place for the security of MPs so that they can carry on with their duties as elected democratic members."
