On LBC this morning, Dominic Raab said that making Southend a city would be “a fitting tribute” to Sir David Amess, who campaigned on the issue almost his whole parliamentary career. So much so that according to Guido’s Hansard search, Sir David made 115 references to “Southend” and “city” during his 38-year term in office.

When Guido inquired about the process for awarding such a memorial to the MP, he spotted the government (Cabinet Office jointly with DCMS) is, in fact, currently running a competition to grant towns with “city status” for the first time in 10 years, in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year. A prime, easy excuse…

The awarding of city status to Southend would follow Chelmsford, Perth, St Asaph and Armagh in 2012, and Sunderland in 1992. It’ll now almost certainly happen. It’s just a shame Sir David won’t see his long-fought dream become a reality…