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An MP has revealed the reason why she had a bodyguard at a Remembrance event. Beccy Cooper, MP for Worthing West, attended the Remembrance Sunday service at Worthing Town Hall on November 10, her first in her new government role. However, onlookers spotted that the politician was accompanied by a member of security during the event.
Ms Cooper has revealed that the protection was put in place following advice from police. She said: “It was an honour and a privilege to attend the Remembrance Sunday service at Worthing Town Hall for the first time as a member of Parliament. “I accepted the advice from the parliamentary security team and Sussex Police which encourages us to have security at large public events .
The MP was accompanied by secuirty on the advice of police due to 'threats and acts of violence' towards politicians (Image: Sussex News and Pictures) “This is a precaution that has sadly become more necessary in the past few years following threats and indeed acts of violence towards MPs." In the last eight years, two MPs have been murdered while carrying out their parliamentary duties for their constituency. READ MORE: Home Office overpaid and cut corners in £15m deal for asbestos-riddled asylum site In October 2021, Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, was killed by Ali Harbi Ali at Belfairs Methodist Church during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Sir David Amess was murdered in 2021 (Image: PA) Ali was sentenced to life in prison for the murder in 2022. Sir Amess’s daughter, Katie Amess, is now calling for a full inquest into his death due to “unanswered questions”. READ MORE: Sussex MP elected to be on government committee In June 2016, MP for Batley and Spen Jo Cox was killed by Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire, while she was on her way to a constituency surgery with her two assistants.
Jo Cox was killed in 2016 (Image: PA) Mair was also sentenced to life in prison for the murder and for grievous bodily harm against Bernard Kenny, who was stabbed while trying to protect Mrs Cox. During the sentencing of Mair, Justice Wilkie said Mrs Cox’s murderer had “an admiration for Nazism, and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds”. Meanwhile, Justice Sweeney said that Sir Amess’s killer, Ali, was “radicalised over the internet” between 2014 and 2016, becoming “aligned to” the Islamic State.
Following Mrs Cox’s death, the Jo Cox Foundation was set up, a charity which champions “stronger communities, respect in politics and a fairer world”..
