AS I am sure you are aware, on Friday, October 15 my friend and colleague Sir David Amess suffered a fatal knife attack while holding a constituency surgery in Southend.

This was a brutal and senseless attack on an MP who was simply doing his job and helping his constituents.

It is important that we as MPs are accessible to our constituents, and I want to make clear that this will not stop me from continuing to hold surgeries with my local residents here in Crewe and Nantwich.

David held similar surgeries every month for decades. He would not want us to change what we do because of what happened to him.

I wanted to take the time to remember David. He made his impression as a kind and thoughtful MP after being in Parliament for an incredible 38 years.

You can imagine that MPs would get tired of meeting new MPs and making them feel welcome after nearly four decades of being in the house. However, David was always enthusiastic and went out of his way to make new members like me feel welcome.

David was known by colleagues as the kindest man in politics, who worked above party politics to create positive action. I know people say nice things about someone when they die, but he really was an exceptionally friendly and kind man.

His devotion to a wide range of issues in Parliament will leave a lasting legacy. To name a few, his campaigning for animal rights, to running the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on endometriosis and of course his endless pursuit to make Southend a city.

I was so happy that the Prime Minister announced this has now been approved by the Queen.

I worked with David on the APPG for fire safety, an area I have been working on in Parliament following the Beechmere fire.

David was the chair of this APPG and he was always informed and proactive on all the issues raised at these meetings, the APPG will suffer a huge loss without his presence. David was passionate about fire safety and had fought hard on this issue for the past 10 years.

David had recently been on a trip with the APPG, which one of my staff members also attended, to look at fire safety techniques in high-rise buildings and the use of sprinklers.

I am told that throughout the day David went out of his way to make my staff member feel welcome on a trip that was attended by MPs and Lords. David treated everybody the same. The next day, I bumped into David on the tube, and he went out of his way to pass on compliments about them which is typical of his generosity of spirit.

My thoughts go out to David's staff members, two of whom were present when the horrific attack took place, they have not only lost a boss, but a friend also. People forget that MPs staff often have to see the abuse and threats that get sent to MPs.

There has been a lot of talk about trying to get rid of the nastiness and abuse we see too much of in politics. I hope we don't just see these for a few months and then see everyone slip back to normal.

In my experience overwhelmingly MPs go into politics to help make this country a better place to live, work and raise a family. We just disagree on the best way of doing that.

After he died I saw in the press coverage that every year David held a tea party for 100-year-olds in his constituency. I thought this would be a great way for both I and other MPs to honour David's memory and I am pleased to say the Speaker of the House and the Leader of the House have agreed to meet with me to come up with a plan of how we can make this happen.

I look forward to sitting down next year with centenarians from Crewe and Nantwich when I will remember David and the example he set to all of us.