David Amess
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David Amess (born 26 March 1952) is a British Member of Parliament for Southend West. He is a member of the Conservative Party and a backbencher.
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Early Life
He was born in Plaistow, London to James and Maud Ethel Amess. He attentded St. Bonaventure Grammar School and then Bournemouth College of Technology where he got a BSc in Economics (Hons, special subject: government).
In 1983 he married Julia Monica Margaret Arnold. They have five children: one son and four daughters. Before becoming an MP in 1983 he has worked as a school teacher, insurance underwriter, and a recruitment consultant.
Political Career
Before the 1997 General Election he was the Member of Parliament for Basildon, but he moved to the safer Conservative seat of Southend West. The Labour Party won the Basildon seat at that election, so Amess was fortunate that he had moved.
Positions
He is very loyal to Conservative party policy and almost never rebels in votes. However he is very strongly for the ban on fox-hunting. He voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq but has since been critical of the government's failure to find the weapons of mass destruction with which they justified the action at the time. He is one of the few Conservative MPs to support the impeach Blair campaign and is strongly against Labour's proposed anti-terror laws and the erosion of civil liberties.
Trivia
He appeared in the Drugs episode of Brass Eye in which he was fooled into filming an elaborate video warning against the dangers of a fictional Eastern European drug called Cake, and went as far as to ask a question about it in Parliament [1] (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199596/cmhansrd/vo960723/text/60723w10.htm#60723w10.html_wqn10). To a lesser, but nonetheless deep humilation, he was also fooled into an interview with Mark Thomas on the very first episode of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (http://www.mtcp.co.uk/) (now just 'Mark Thomas Product'), where he partook of such activities as drawing his constituency on a young woman's tummy, then playing naughts and crosses on it (pictured), and finally, after being shown pictures of David Martin doing the same, letting Mark (dressed as a giant bear) take pictures of his bottom.
David.amess-mark.thomas.jpg
MT: "Coz you're pro-hanging, aren't you?" DA: "I am. [Pause] Well, no; I'm not not hanging." MT: "Shooting?" DA: "Er..er.. " MT: "Electrocution! Poison gas? Hitting? Stoning? Stone them! Stone them!" DA: "I'm sure there's a humane way of doing it."
External links
- ePolitix - David Amess (http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/David+Amess) official site
- Conservative Party - David Amess (http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&PersonID=4618) biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Amess MP (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-74,00.html)
- TheyWorkForYou - David Amess MP (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_amess/southend_west)