The DUP MP said,
“Rev Robert Bradford was born in Limavady but went on to become the Member of Parliament for South Belfast. On 14th November 1981, he was attending to his duties as a constituency representative by holding an advice surgery in Finaghy Community Centre. The 29-year-old caretaker of the centre, Kenneth Campbell was murdered alongside Rev Bradford; gunned down in cold blood by the Provisional IRA.
During this season of remembrance we have paused to reflect the freedoms won for us by those who paid the supreme sacrifice in pursuit of freedom. Robert Bradford was a symbol of that freedom; a democratically elected representative of the people of South Belfast. That was all the justification needed for the IRA to label him as a ‘legitimate target’.
It is particularly important that the murder of a serving Member of Parliament is remembered within the House of Commons. It serves as a reminder of the importance of democracy, and of the many others who stood against those in Northern Ireland who used murder and mayhem as tactics in an attempt to overthrow those values.”
Note: The motion reads as follows
“This House notes that 14 November 2024 marks the 43rd anniversary of the murder of the Hon Member for South Belfast, the Rev. Robert Bradford MP, born in Limavady, Co. Londonderry in 1941 but brutally gunned down by the terrorists of the Provisional IRA as he was on his way to hold a constituency surgery on 14 November 1981 in a community centre where the caretaker Mr. Kenneth Campbell was also murdered; and during this season of remembrance expresses the hope that democrats everywhere, irrespective of political affiliation, can salute his bravery and all others who paid the supreme sacrifice in pursuit of peace and freedom.”