Southend will be given city status in honour of MP
SOUTHEND will be granted city status as a tribute to Sir David Amess, Boris Johnson announced as he paid tribute to one of the “nicest, kindest and most gentle” MPS.
The Prime Minister said the Queen had agreed to the move following the yearslong campaign by the Southend West representative, who was murdered during a surgery for his constituents.
Leading tributes in the Commons on Monday, Mr Johnson praised the politician, who “simply wanted to serve the people of Essex” as a backbench Conservative.
He vowed that the “contemptible act of violence” that took Sir David’s life on Friday would not “detract from his accomplishments as a politician or as a human being”.
Noting the MP’S tireless campaign to get city status for the Essex seaside town, the Prime Minister said he was “happy to announce that Her Majesty has agreed that Southend will be accorded the city status it so clearly deserves”.
Mr Johnson added: “Sir David was taken from us in a contemptible act of violence striking at the core of what it is to be a member of this House, and violating both the sanctity of the church in which he was killed and the constituency surgery that is so essential to our representative democracy.
“But we will not allow the manner of Sir David’s death in any way to detract from his accomplishments as a politician or as a human being.
“Sir David was a patriot who believed passionately in this country, in its people and in its future. He was also one of the nicest, kindest and most gentle individuals ever to grace these benches.”