Sir David Amess: 'I would have been proud to be born a Jew'

The Southend West MP, who was stabbed to death on Friday, made the remark during a Holocaust Memorial Day debate in January

Sir David Amess’s support for his local Jewish community was clear as recently as January, when he spoke of how proud he would have been to be born Jewish.

The Southend West MP made the remark during a Commons debate to mark Holocaust Memorial Day this year.

He died in a knife attack during a constituency surgery on Friday.

Sir David said during the debate in parliament: “Although I myself am not a Jew but a Catholic, there is Jewish blood in each and every one of us.

“I would certainly have been proud to have been born a Jew, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with our local Jewish community.”

He went on: “I simply do not understand and have never understood antisemitism.

“The most important lesson from the Holocaust is that although we cannot police the world, it is simply not acceptable to stand by and do and say nothing when genocide happens.

“For evil to prevail, all it needs is for good people to remain silent.”