Ex-justice secretary to lead review into MP murder

Former Conservative Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland will lead an independent review into state failings prior to the murder of MP Sir David Amess.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wrote to the Amess family to confirm the appointment on Monday.

Katie Amess, Sir David's daughter, said her family would engage with the review in "good faith", but she reiterated that they had always sought a "full statutory inquiry" into her father's death.

The Conservative MP for Southend West was stabbed multiple times while holding a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in October 2021.

So-called Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali was given a whole-life sentence for the murder in 2022.

He had been referred to anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent seven years before he killed the veteran MP, but his case was closed in 2016.

In her letter, Mahmood said Sir Robert "brings deep expertise and a thoughtful, sensitive approach".

The former justice secretary also previously served as Welsh secretary, prisons and probation minister and solicitor general.

In response to the appointment, Katie Amess said: "Sir Robert is someone we respect and we welcome the opportunity to meet with him and ensure that the questions our family has been asking for years are finally addressed.

"However, we must be clear: what we have always sought is a full statutory public inquiry. A review is not the same thing.

"Our father was murdered in circumstances that raise serious questions about security, prevention and whether opportunities were missed to stop what happened."

She insisted answering those questions was "of national importance".

A review published in February 2025 found Ali's Prevent case was closed too early after "problematic" assessments.

But the then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to the Amess family the following month, rejecting calls for a public inquiry into Sir David's murder.

The family branded that as "totally unacceptable" and "insulting".

Their spokesman, Radd Seiger, said Sir Robert's appointment on Monday was a "serious and credible one", but reiterated their calls for a public inquiry.

"What has been offered is an 'overarching review', not a statutory public inquiry. That distinction matters," he said.

"A review does not carry the same powers to compel evidence, to test that evidence in public, or to deliver full transparency and accountability."

Seiger said "profound questions" about the murder of an MP could not be "satisfactorily answered behind closed doors".

He added: "Only a full public inquiry will provide the level of scrutiny this case demands.

"We will continue to press the government on that point."

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