Downplaying Jihad: After an MP’s Murder, They’re Talking About Everything Except the Killer’s Motive

The UK does not want the focus to be on the latest terrorist killer’s Islamic ties.

As best I can remember, I’d never heard of Sir David Amess before learning of his murder. That’s a shame, because he appears by all accounts to have been that rare politician who was in it for the right reasons — who, that is, loved his country, cared about his constituents, and made “public service” sound like a fair job description rather than a cynical Clintonian lie. But then I guess that’s precisely the kind of politician who rarely makes the big headlines. As it happens, Amess was killed while meeting with constituents at what Brits, oddly, call a “surgery” — that is, office hours regularly held by MPs in their constituencies. The location was a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, a district of Southend-on-Sea, the Essex town that formed the major part of Amess’s constituency and that, despite a population of 183,000, doesn’t have city status, which, in one of those charming curiosities of British culture, is a distinction that can only be conferred by the monarch. One of Amess’s pet causes was to change that. Now, in his memory, Boris Johnson has announced that Southend will indeed be granted city status. That’s nice, I guess. It’s also nice to hear what a — well — nice man Amess apparently was. Prime Minister Boris Johnson remembered him as “one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics.” Labor head Keith Starmer praised his “profound sense of duty.” At a memorial service on Monday, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby spoke of his “robust fairness of spirit and charity of heart.” In an interview on Monday, MP Andrew Rosindell said: “He was better than most MPs. He was really genuine…. He was principled…. He had time for everyone. He didn’t look down on anyone.” The son of an electrician, Amess was a devout Catholic, a father of five, and a fervent supporter of Margaret Thatcher and, later, of Brexit. A member of Parliament since 1983, he opposed abortion and same-sex marriage (while apparently harboring no antigay animus whatsoever). Also, in th...