Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
The political murder of Sir David Amess shines a light on the virtues of public service
The political murder of Sir David Amess shines a light on the virtues of public service
Apr 26, 2025 12:31 AM

The stabbing death of Sir David Amess as he met with constituents is both an occasion of mourning and horror but also a time to consider the animating principles of the best of our public servants, and the price they sometimes pay for mitment to the public good.

Read More…

The name of Sir David Amess, a Conservative member of the British Parliament for 39 years, was little known in the U.K., and almost certainly not at all known in the United States. On Oct. 15, 2021, shortly after midday, he was murdered while meeting constituents in Belfairs Methodist Church, in his electoral district. He was stabbed multiple times. Police and paramedics fought for two hours to save him, but he died at the scene. The shock across the nation was palpable.

For the second time in five years, an elected politician had been murdered while carrying out their job—the first occasion was the Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in 2016. The arrested suspect in the case of David Amess, Ali Harbi Ali, had been previously reported to the government’s anti-terrorist program.

David was a devout Roman Catholic, a social conservative on moral issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, a libertarian on matters of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown, and a proponent of Brexit—a mix of views and opinions far more representative of much of the British public than that represented by the mainstream media, not least the BBC. Sir David’s parliamentary district, Southend West, in the county of Essex, lies only 50 miles to the east of London, an approximately one-hour drive away. Yet in terms of outlook and political leanings, the area could not be further removed from the London metropolitan elite. In the 2019 general election, the Conservative Party won all 18 districts in Essex, polling around 65% of the vote. And the elected members are, for the most part, genuine conservatives like Sir David. Faith, patriotism, and concerns around immigration, alongside a resistance to socialism and a passion munity, characterize these districts.

The pictures of the vigils held for David and the shock across munity illustrate that here was an elected official who, contrary to the way politicians are often represented by the media, was genuinely loved in and by munity. Somewhat sadder was the refusal of the police to admit to the scene his Roman Catholic priest and friend, Fr. Jeffrey Woolnough, so that he could administer the Last Rites. Fr. Woolnough prayed outside instead.

It should be remembered that just three weeks earlier, the Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, had described her Conservative political opponents as “a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynist, absolute vile.” She remains in office.

A politician motivated by passion, generosity, kindness, and a lack of ambition for high office, who simply wanted to serve his constituents—this is the picture of Sir David that has emerged in tributes from across the political spectrum, illustrating how he had shown kindness to those he disagreed with politically, repeatedly resisting pressure from his own party to “toe the line” while remaining steadfast to his principles.

Here are some examples of those principles from his life and service:

Sir David’s robust kindness came from his deep-rooted Roman Catholic faith. The central importance of Christian faith needs to be allowed to shine forth again as a primary principle of public service. Faith underpins not only a determination to stand for what is right but also a character-forming and shaping spirituality that recognizes the dignity of all human beings. This is bination that motivated David Amess.One Labour MP, Ian Byrne, representing a safe socialist district in Liverpool, revealed that after his own maiden speech in Parliament, Sir David had written to him privately saying he had enjoyed his speech and wishing him a long and happy career in Parliament. A second principle of public service is surely seeing the best in others, recognizing that those called into public service enter the political arena with the highest of motives, to serve the nation and the people of munities.Another principle exemplified by Sir David was that of tenacity. For example, he campaigned for a memorial statue to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Second World War. He failed to secure the structure in 1990 but kept on fighting; a statue was eventually unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen in 1997.He understood the importance of civil society and its institutions. Sir David campaigned for the disabled, particularly supporting the Music Man Project, which helps the disabled and those with learning disabilities play musical instruments. He even played a key role in organizing a concert at one of London’s premier concert venues, the Royal Albert Hall. He said, “It is through active citizenship, through many voluntary organisations … that we demonstrate every day, week and month that we are a truly caring society.”Sir David was willing to embrace unpopular positions. He had passions that took him away from normal party-political campaigns and embraced concerns as wide-ranging as fuel poverty and animal welfare. In other words, he thought for himself and about where he could make a difference.His principles could not be bought. On one occasion a call was received into the office suggesting that if Sir David voted the “right way” on a particular piece of legislation, he could be considered for ministerial office. He did not return the call. In fact, his former office manager Ed Holmes reported that he once spent a whole afternoon with the Member of Parliament searching his office for a lost invitation to a constituency charity event. Nothing was more important than that.

What does all this tell us about the principles of public service that underpinned the life and career of a little-known British politician? Well, we can learn about kindness and respect for others, the nature of the call to political service, a passion to make a difference and to serve people. We can learn about the honorable and selfless nature of public service. We can see why the vitriolic language that plagues our political discourse needs to be set aside. We learn of faith, those animating principles of life that have guided thousands of men and women into public service. And we can thank those men and women, pray for them, and affirm what ordinary politicians do on behalf of the people they serve.

There is no better way to end than by sharing part of the statement released by Sir David’s family the day after his murder, describing their pain and how their hearts were shattered. But they also wanted to emphasize that:

Strong and courageous is an appropriate way to describe David. He was a patriot and a man of peace. So, we ask people to set aside their differences and show kindness and love to all.

Sir David Amess (1952–2021), Member of Parliament for Basildon (1983–1997) and Southend West (1997–2021), married to Julia, with whom he had five children. A man of faith and service. Rest in peace.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Constitutional Cases and the Four Cardinal Virtues
Should virtue be a consideration in judicial decisionmaking? Indiana Law Professor R. George Wright makes an intriguing argument for why the four cardinal virtues could be useful in interpreting constitutional cases: Judges typically decide constitutional cases by referring to one or more legal precedents, rules, tests, principles, doctrines, or policies. This Article mends supplementing this standard approach with fully legitimate and appropriate attention to what many cultures have long recognized as the four basic cardinal virtues of practical wisdom or...
Let’s Change Hearts and Minds (and Laws, Too)
Few clichés are so widespread within the evangelical subculture, says Matthew Lee Anderson, as the notion that our witness must be one of “changing hearts and minds.” In careful hands, the idea is at best ambiguous. At worst it reinforces the sort of interior-oriented individualism that allows for and perpetuates a blissful naivete about how institutions and structures shape our dispositions and thoughts. In less than careful hands, the phrase drives a wedge between law and culture by attempting to...
Reagan, Whittaker Chambers, and the Threat to Freedom
Over at the Liberty Law Blog, there is an excellent post titled “Ronald Reagan, Whittaker Chambers, and the Dialogue of Liberty” by Alan Snyder. Snyder delves into the influence Chambers had on Reagan and how their worldviews differed as well. Many conservatives and scholars felt Chambers’ prediction that the West was on the losing side of history in the battle against Marxism collapsed after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union. For many, the ideas of Chambers...
Italy’s Tax Man Takes Aim at the Vatican
Kishore Jayabalan, the Acton Institute’s Rome office director, was interviewed by the Zenit news agency in an article titled, “Is Taxing the Church a Real Solution for Italy?” In the article, Jayabalan discusses the history of the Italian state and its imposition of property taxes on the Roman Catholic Church’s land holdings, residences and non-profit businesses. Sometimes in the past, particularly under Napoleonic rule and before the Lateran Pacts, the institution of property tax was often a subject of state...
Integral Human Development
The Journal of Markets & Morality is planning a theme issue for the Spring of 2013: “Integral Human Development,” i.e. the synthesis of human freedom and responsibility necessary for the material and spiritual enrichment of human life. According to Pope Benedict XVI, Integral human development presupposes the responsible freedom of the individual and of peoples: no structure can guarantee this development over and above human responsibility. (Caritas in Veritate 17) There is a delicate balance between the material and the...
Is Work a Curse?
Is work a curse, a result of mankind’s fall from grace? Not according to the Book of Genesis. As Hugh Whelchel, Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, explains, what Adam was called to do in the garden is what we are still called to do in our work today: Humanity was created by God to cultivate and keep God’s creation, which included developing it and protecting it. You see, we were created to be stewards of...
Obamacare’s Religious Rubes
The White House has a plan to mobilize prayer vigils in front of the Supreme Court in defense of Obamacare. It was reported that the administration met with leaders at non-profit organizations and religious officials who support the new health care law. The court takes up the constitutional test of the health care mandate in a couple of weeks. The mandate has now been challenged in 26 states. Cue the same stale big government religious prophets who confuse statism and...
How to Love Liberty More Than a Libertarian Economist
I have a deep and abiding love for liberty—which is why I find myself so often in disagreement with libertarians. Libertarians love liberty too, of course, but they tend to love liberty a bit differently. I love liberty in an earthy, elemental way. I love liberty because I need it—like I need air and food—for human flourishing. In contrast, the libertarians I’ve encountered tend to love liberty primarily as an abstraction. Indeed, the most ideologically consistent libertarians I know seem...
How to Steal a Bike in New York City
Edmund Burke didn’t really say it, but it still rings true: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. In a test of this maxim, filmmaker Casey Neistat tries to steal his own bike in several locations around New York City and finds that most people do nothing about it—even when it’s done right in front of a police station. I recently spent a couple of days conducting a bike theft experiment, which...
Lord Acton and the Power of the Historian
Looking through my back stacks of periodicals the other day I ran across a review in Books & Culture by David Bebbington, “Macaulay in the Dock,” of a recent biography of Thomas Babington Macaulay. The essay takes its point of departure in Lord Acton’s characterization of Macaulay as “one of the greatest of all writers and masters, although I think him utterly base, contemptible and odious.” As Bebbington writes, “Acton, a towering intellectual of the later 19th century, was at...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved