One of Labour’s new crop of MPs revealed in her maiden parliamentary speech that on her first day in the job she had tried to stem the blood from a stabbed teenager outside Kennington tube station while they waited for an ambulance.
Florence Eshalomi, newly elected as Labour’s Vauxhall MP, told MPs she had rushed to the fifteen-year-old’s aid in De Laune Street after the stabbing on Tuesday, January 7, at around 5pm, the same day the House of Commons resumed business.
Before entering the House of Commons after December’s snap election, Eshalomi had held the Lambeth and Southwark seat at City Hall on the Greater London Assembly.
She used her maiden speech, on January 16, to call for more investment in mental health services, arguing childhood trauma is the root cause of youth violence.
“I got involved in politics to give a voice to people who feel that politics is not for them or that politics does not matter,” she told MPs.
“I have spent a large part of my career working with young people, including the young people who society is quick to demonise and stereotype.
“Last Tuesday, I was one of the first people on the scene following a stabbing incident that took place just over the border of my constituency.
“I made the frantic phone call to the emergency services, as I and two other members of the public tried to stem the flow of blood from the young boy who had been stabbed.
“I later found out that that young boy was fifteen years old. I was scared. I was sad, because some members of the public walked past.”
She went on to say that research shows the “vast majority” of young people involved in knife crime have suffered trauma in their childhoods.
“Mental health services for our young people have not been adequately funded, and I hope that the government will make a commitment to reverse the cuts and support our young people at risk.”
As the News has reported, a fifteen-year-old was arrested by police the same day as the attack, in Maidstone in Kent, on suspicion of GBH with intent.
He was charged on Wednesday, January 8, and remanded in custody. He appeared at Bromley Youth Court the next day. His next court date has not yet been confirmed.
Doctors say the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening. He had been in a critical but stable condition in the days after the attack.