MI5 May Get More Control Over UK's Anti-Terror Programme in Wake of MP Amess' Killing

Conservative MP Sir David Amess was meeting with constituents in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea on 15 October when he was stabbed multiple times, later leading to his death at the scene.

The Times has cited unnamed sources as saying that the UK government is overhauling its strategy for the government's counter-terrorism programme, Prevent, in the wake of the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess.

A few years ago, Ali Harbi Ali, Amess' suspected killer, was reportedly referred to Prevent, but his behaviour was not believed to be extreme enough to alert MI5, Britain's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency.

The insiders claimed that in line with the overview, MI5 should be given a greater say on whether people at risk of radicalisation are placed in the Prevent programme.

The role of teachers, National Health Service (NHS) workers, and religious leaders "should be limited in deciding when an individual should be pursued", the sources added, referring to the government's new strategy.

Tory MP Wants Online Harms Bill to Be Changed in Honour of David Amess

The insiders' claims come as Mark Francois, a fellow British MP, has called for the current Online Harms Bill to be changed to "David's Law" in memory of the slain lawmaker.

According to Francois, the law should be enacted to crack down on social media abuse of public figures and end online anonymity.

The call came as parliamentarians from all parties gathered in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon to observe a minute of silence for Amess, who was stabbed to death in Leigh-on-Sea last week.

Paying tribute to Sir David, Francois dubbed the 69-year-old one of his closest friends and his political mentor, pledging that he would spend his time in parliament to overhaul the regulations related to social media.

The order of service is pictured during a service of prayer and remembrance in honour of slain British lawmaker David Amess, at St Margaret's Church, in central London on October 18, 2021

© AFP 2023 / JONATHAN BRADY

Francois urged his fellow legislators to help the government "drain the Twitter swamp" by denying the trolls anonymity "to ensure" that his friend "did not die in vain".

He stressed that if social media companies "don't want" to help UK lawmakers to cope with the task, "then let's compel them to do it by law because they've had more than enough chances to do it voluntarily".

Francois also told the Commons that he was "minded to drag" Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey "to the bar of the House […] so they can look us all in the eye and account for their actions or rather their inactions that make them even richer than they already are".

The MP insisted that British lawmakers should "collectively […] pick up the baton, regardless of our party and take the forthcoming online harms bill and toughen it up markedly".

"In the last few years David had become increasingly concerned about what he called the toxic environment in which MPs, particularly female MPs, were having to operate in. He was appalled by what he called the vile misogynistic abuse which female MPs had to endure online and he told me very recently that he wanted something done about it", Francois added.

He called for "David's Law" to be put on "the statute book", explaining that the document's essence "would be that while people in public life must remain open to legitimate criticism, they can no longer be vilified or their families subject to the most horrendous abuse, especially from people who hide behind a cloak of anonymity with the connivance of the social media companies for profit".

Francois spoke as the government plans to pass an online safety bill to slap new obligations on social media companies to regulate illegal and harmful material. Compliance with the law will be monitored by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), and the bill is expected to be okayed after pre-legislative scrutiny scheduled for early December.

The MP's remarks came after reports in the British media that 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali, the suspect behind Amess' murder, was plotting to kill any UK politician, including Labour and Tory MPs, and that the 69-year-old lawmaker was stabbed to death "at random".

"He [Sir David] was unlucky. He was not targeted because of his political party. David Amess was not specifically targeted", The Telegraph cited an unnamed government source as saying.

The Southend West MP was meeting constituents at his weekly "surgery" in Leigh-on-Sea last Friday, when Ali, a British national of Somali heritage, reportedly walked in and stabbed Amess at least 17 times. Paramedics battled for more than an hour to save the 69-year-old father of five, but to no avail.