wound to his hand, which happened when he tried to grapple the sword away from the man attacking him and andrew pennington. and he spoke to the bbc this evening. i'm horrified by it. he was a lovely man, he did the job to the best of his ability. he was a pal and i'm just devastated that we will never see him again. over 20 years on from the attack in your constituency office on yourself, do you feel more needs to be done to protect mps in these types of situations? well, you can make a case for mp5 because they are in the public eye but it's notjust mps, it's everybody else. shop workers and anybody who comes face—to—face with the public. they can come to grief because there is someone who has some kind of grudge against them or the system, so i wouldn't like to make a special case for mp5. but i think more needs to be done to protect people and to get violence out of our society. however much you disagree with someone, you don't kill them. it is the nature of an mp�*s work, the constituency surgeries and constituency events are a key bit of every friday in particular. do you think enough had been learned about how to keep mps safe? no, i don't think so. meeting constituents is a very important part of an mp�*s job. i must admit, when the attack happened on me, my reaction for several weeks afterwards was, i need a bodyguard 2a hours a day. but, of course, that would be impossible to implement and very expensive for the public. and it's notjust mps, it's everybody else. we've somehow got to get a system where people just don't get this high, this viciousness in them, and stop the violence that is in our society in all too many places. do you think something needs to be changed? we are now living in an era of zoom on skype, and online meetings have taken hold in the last 18 months, two years. do you think for sitting mps, something needs to be changed that their security is maybe made more secure by constituency work being done more online? there is a case for that and there's also a case for mp5 and peers being able to contribute to the house of commons, house of lords proceedings remotely, particularly those who live a long way away from london. yes, you can do remote constituency surgeries, but there is really nothing quite like being face—to—face with someone who perhaps might not be too articulate, but you can try and find out what exactly their problem is and then do your best help. i'm sorry to ask this question, but to go back 20 years to the attack on yourself and andrew, did you have any warning? did you have any time to react? did the system in place protect you or give you knowledge of what might be coming? no, the system in place when i became an mp in the early days was, you got a piece of paper from the house authorities that said "try to remain inconspicuous in your constituency." well, in a marginal seat, that's the last thing you want to do. you want people to know you are round and about and doing a job. things have improved a bit. there are now courses they hold to enable mps, peers and staff to understand something of how you can bring people down from a high of violence, talk them down, so you can discuss their problems sensibly and get a proper conclusion. but what has happened today is just so awful and my sympathies go out to david and his family and all his friends, and his constituents in southend west. nigeljones, lord jones, who at the time he was attacked was a liberal democrat mp for cheltenham. local catholics in certain�*s continuance he had been holding a service of remembrance in south end southend. —— in southend. england's most senior catholic churchman, cardinal vincent nichols, has given his reaction to the death. he said... and we will hope to speak to cardinal nichols later. a little earlier, i spoke to mervyn thomas, who is the founder president of christian solidarity worldwide, and campaigned together with david amess on religious liberty issues. he knew him as young as six boys growing up in the county, and they were friends from the very early age and both active in the young conservatives. he began by telling me how shocked and saddened he was by the news of david's death. first of all, i would like to be asleep pass on my condolences to sir david's wife julia asleep pass on my condolences to sir david's wifejulia and the five children and the families. this is something that totally unexpected, but maybe we should not have... maybe it should not be unexpected for tub it is beginning to become some kind of regularity, but david was a very special person. when you hear that a friend that you have known for decades, we grew up in essex together and or around the young conservatives seen in the 705, and then subsequently when david became an mp, we worked closely together on religious liberty issues. a great man and what a tragic, tragic loss of life. had he ever talked _ tragic, tragic loss of life. had he ever talked to _ tragic, tragic loss of life. had he ever talked to you _ tragic, tragic loss of life. had he ever talked to you about - tragic, tragic loss of life. had he ever talked to you about the - tragic, tragic loss of life. had he i ever talked to you about the issue of safety? because no mp, certainly after the death ofjo cox, five years ago now, could not have had to ask themselves those questions about the risks they ran? that was the third attacked there had been on an mp — third attacked there had been on an mp - i third attacked there had been on an mp — i mentioned stephen timms, we had the attack on nigeljones at the beginning of the century which led to the death of one of his assistants, andrew pennington. the killing ofjo cox must have brought it onto david as he did other mp5. he never talked about it. i was not with david day and night. david and eyesight each other in latter years reasonably infrequently, but, no, he did not speak about it, but this would not have bothered david. david was a person that wanted to be with the people. he loved the people he represented, he loves humanity, and all of that was sparked from his deep christian faith, and so david would not have given a second thought about going into a dangerous situation if it was to help others. he will be there. and that was who he was. he he will be there. and that was who he was. ., he will be there. and that was who hewas. . , he will be there. and that was who he was. . , , ,.,, ., ., —— quitea —— quite a tiggerish attitude... was the man like the child you knew? for some the man like the child you knew? fr?" some of you campaign on such serious issues, david actually did not take life too seriously, he was fun to be with, and i think that is why so many people across the parties in westminster really liked david. he was respected, and he did not take life too seriously, but for those causes that he was passionate about — and one of them was religious liberty, region of religion or belief for all. when we started our organisation, i started belief for all. when we started our organisation, istarted it belief for all. when we started our organisation, i started it with another conservative act mp and it was really difficult to find mp5 interested in this subject —— conservative mp. 0ne interested in this subject —— conservative mp. one had just got into parliament. but david amess was one of the first, and i remember taking him to russia in 1987 which was still communist russia, and he was still communist russia, and he was a great travelling companion, and he was somebody who always spoke his mind, who always told even the commonest authorities what he thought about freedom and justice, and i was who he was —— communist. mervyn thomas, lifelong friend of david amess. the... a number of pieces of animal welfare legislation, including one on the stalls in which sows are kept waiting to give birth, try to get them banned — that is still one he was pursuing into parliament at the moment. david told me how valuable sir david amess was to the cause. he was sir david amess was to the cause. he: was extremely valuable, and this was something that he espoused from the time he got elected in 1983 until he died, tragically, today, and he will have a number of legacies that he made, so he piloted the cruel tethering act through to get better protection for the horse well —— welfare in 1988. he talks to me, and that was one of his proudest things. it was very difficult to get a private members bill through, particularly in those days, but he managed it and he chose animal welfare with that. his principles were always heartfelt, but never wavered, as your last guest said, so when he got elected, he was against fox hunting, and for a conservative mp in the 19805, that was a very small club, but he saw it through, he did not mind it, he stuck to his principles and that led to the hunting act in 2005. becky's saw that everybody else caught up with what he wanted. and he was still campaigning on animal welfare issues even now —— because he saw. two weeks ago, i met up with him at the conservative party conference in manchester for he has a private members bill in the house of commons to ban sow stalls. he was wanting to... the sad fact is that those things which i think will happen in the next year, he won't be around to see, but he really laid the foundations for them. what is it that made _ foundations for them. what is it that made him _ foundations for them. what is it that made him effective - foundations for them. what is it that made him effective as a - that made him effective as a container? he was a partisan politician, conservative to his bootstraps, and one of those mpc could be relied upon to fly the flag even when the party was having difficulties which does not which transition some of at getting cross party support, and ijust wondered what it was about his character or the way he operated that you think made him so effective in that way? as many of your guests previously have said, he was very open, he was very kind. i never signed turned down a meeting with anybody, refuse interview with anyone, and i think he was well respected across the house, and obviously on animal welfare, that is a cross party issue. it's our doffing a very labour issue, but now, the conservative government have got huge ideas on how to improve animal welfare —— it started off as. that is what really drove him on. he was never afraid to stand up in the house of commons and say something he really believed in whether it was on animal welfare or any other issue like your previous guest talked about, religious freedom. he was not afraid to stand up for his principles, to say with those were, despite maybe the problems they would cause and people respected him for doing that. would cause and people respected him for doing that-— for doing that. david bowles with the rs pc a- _ for doing that. david bowles with the rs pc a. time _ for doing that. david bowles with the rs pc a. time for— for doing that. david bowles with the rs pc a. time for the - for doing that. david bowles with i the rs pc a. time for the weather. l for doing that. david bowles with | the rs pc a. time for the weather. a sunnier day today, the cooler and fresher fuel to the weather. not as warm as it has been over recent days. however, milder air set however, milderairset to however, milder air set to return this weekend. the milder air begins to push in overnight across parts of the south west, along with that a lot of cloud, mist and fog patches, the odds bit of rain as well. this is where we will see the lowest temperatures, cold enough for some patches of rust in the countryside as we start saturday morning. saturday, generally quite a cloudy start for many of us, there could be an odds bit of light rain falling from this cloud as it works the way northwards. dry weather for scotland for much of the day. we should see some sunshine working in for southwest england, wales and the midlands through the course of the day as well for some temperatures milder across england and wales and to a degree in northern ireland. but relatively cool in scotland, 10—12 here. this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a british member of parliament, sir david amess, has been stabbed to death while meeting constituents at a church hall outside london. he died at the scene. a 25—year—old man was arrested immediately at the scene on suspicion of murder. he remains in custody. a knife was also recovered at the scene. enquiries are continue into a likely motive. the british prime minister paid tribute to sir david. the reason i think people are so shocked and saddened is, above all, he was one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics. in other news — more than a0 people have died in a series of suicide bomb blasts at a mosque in kandahar.

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