Thread by @E_K_Holmes

#DavidAmessMP gave me my first proper job after university. Early on, I was absolutely terrified we had forgotten to tell him about an urgent call from David Cameron's office. Couldn't have bothered him less 'don't worry about that, Edward'. I don't think he ever returned it. 1/6

That week his invitation to a local charity event in the constituency - the Leigh Duck race - went missing. Nothing was more important. We spent the entire afternoon turning the office upside down trying to find it. 2/6

Another time I took a message from the Whips Office for him to call them. They said if David voted the right way on a piece of legislation, they would consider him for a ministerial role. When I told him, David just laughed (I don't think he ever returned that call either). 3/6

But when he heard someone he knew in the constituency was seriously ill, he would call everyone he could think of. I remember listening to him late into the evening on the phone to some of the most senior medics in the land- nagging, cajoling, pleading for them to intervene. 4/6

Even when they were clearly fed up of him- and even when it was clearly a hopeless case - David never stopped trying. No votes to be had, no cameras in sight. I think that's when I admired him the most. 5/6

No MP could have been clearer about putting the needs of his constituents first - before party, ambition and everything else - than #DavidAmessMP. My thoughts with Julia and his family at this dreadful time. 6/6