Camilla Tominey: 'The time has come for MPs to have taxpayer-funded bodyguards'

17 October 2021, 20:57

'Time has come for MPs to have bodyguards funded by the taxpayer'

Camilla Tominey branded the protection of MPs "a matter of life or death" in the wake of the killing of Sir David Amess, calling for "better" protection for them if face-to-face surgeries are to continue.

It comes as the family of Sir David Amess have said their "hearts are shattered" following the death of the Conservative MP, as they called for people to "set aside hatred" in an emotional tribute.

Sir David was stabbed multiple times during a meeting with his constituents in Essex on Friday. A 25-year-old man is being held under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of the 69-year-old's murder.

Camilla told listeners: "We are now living in a world where MPs' lives are at stake. That's how serious it is, it is a matter of life or death.

"And therefore, I can't quite understand why there is a debate about this. If we want parliamentarians to continue to meet people face-to-face, we're going to have to better protect them, and that is going to cost the taxpayer more money.

"And I suppose my question to you is, don't you agree with me that the time has come for bodyguards for these MPs and aren't we going to have to pay for them?"

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Camilla recalled "the most depressing image" she saw over the course of the weekend, which was a picture of Sir David Amess at his daughter's recent wedding.

"Of course that's a beautiful occasion, but you look at that picture and think my god - you cannot even begin to comprehend what his daughters and his wife are going through right now," she said.

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"And therefore we're talking about this issue like it's hypothetical. If it was my parent... and you wouldn't necessarily know if they were going to a surgery to help constituents and going to come back alive, you'd want a police officer on the door."I'm not saying that we should end face-to-faces, I'm just saying that we need to better protect these people."

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