On election night of April 9, 1992, when everyone doubted whether the Conservatives would be able to stay in government after the overthrow of Margaret Thatcher under John Major, there was a moment when the nation's eyes were on David Amess was.

Amess represented the Basildon constituency at the time.

The planned city forty kilometers east of London was a narrowly won parliamentary seat that had always voted for the victorious party since its formation in the 1970s.

Gina Thomas

Features correspondent based in London.

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Accordingly, Basildon was regarded as a barometer for the voting intentions of the "Essex Man", the stereotype of the conservative voting worker.

He helped Margaret Thatcher to victory, just as Boris Johnson's party now depends on the votes of the voters behind the so-called red wall in the north of England.

Basildon is also one of the constituencies where votes are counted the fastest.

That night, David Amess was declared the winner at 11:30 p.m.

In his memoirs, John Major describes how he waited for the result in his constituency with a glass of cognac.

As soon as it came, he called out to his wife: “That's it, we won.” The engaging grin of the boyish-looking David Amess impressed itself on everyone who followed the election at the time.

A real "East End boy"

Amess was in many ways the epitome of an "Essex Man".

Born in 1952 to an electrician and a seamstress in the East End of London, he was proud of his roots.

The family lived in a row house without a refrigerator, but with an outside toilet and a tin bath hanging on the wall.

The East End shaped him, said Amess.

At the mass, which was held on Friday evening in the Catholic Church near the place where Amess was fatally injured with a knife by an attacker during a voter consultation, the pastor called him an "East End boy".

Amess carried "that great spirit of the East End" with him, "not to be afraid to talk to anyone".

This explains why Amess was chosen in 1979, when he was still involved in local politics, to appear in a promotional shot for the Conservative Party with Thatcher, who was not yet Prime Minister.

Amess has remained a great believer in Margaret Thatcher.

He considered her “without a doubt” to be “the most outstanding and most thought-provoking politician” of his time.

Amess advocated leaving the European Union and could not believe until the end that this goal had actually been achieved.

It was indicative of his understanding of patriotism that he campaigned for a memorial to the popular singer Vera Lynn, who had encouraged soldiers in World War II with songs related to their homeland such as "The White Cliffs of Dover".

And it is just as characteristic of his sense of humanity that he supported the campaign for a memorial to the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg to honor his commitment to the Jews.

He campaigned for the interests of his constituency

Amess joined the right wing of the party.

The backbencher recently replied in the affirmative when asked if he believed his views would have hampered his career.

Although he had been in parliament since 1983, making him one of the longest-serving members of the House of Commons, he never made it past the post of parliamentary private secretary, not least because he preferred to stand up for the interests of his constituents rather than himself To maneuver the party apparatus.

He was known to miss no opportunity in his parliamentary interventions to name his constituency, first Basildon, then Southend.