We had just wrapped up recording this week’s podcast and I was on my way back to Westminster when it happened: the first terrorist attack on Parliament since the killing of Airey Neave in 1979. You can read an account of the day here.
Here’s what we know so far:
- Four people, including the attacker, have died following a terrorist attack at Westminster. Keith Palmer, a police officer, was killed defending Parliament as the attacker attempted to rush the gates.
- 29 people are in hospital, seven in critical condition.
- Three French high school students are among those who were injured in the attack.
- The attacker, who was known to the security services, has been named as Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old British born man from Birmingham, is believed to have been a lone wolf though he was inspired by international terrorist attacks.
The proximity of so many members of the press – including George, who has written up his experience here – meant that it was very probably the most well-documented terrorist attack in British history. But it wasn’t an attack on the press, though I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t thinking about what might have happened if we had finished recording a little earlier.
It was an attack on our politicians and our Parliament and what it represents: of democracy and, ultimately, the rights of all people to self-determination and self-government. It’s a reminder too of the risk that everyone who enters politics take and how lucky we are to have them.
It was also a reminder of something I take for granted every day: that if an attack happens, I get to run away from it while the police run towards it. One of their number made the ultimate sacrifice yesterday and many more police and paramedics had to walk towards the scene at a time when they didn’t know if there was another attacker out there.
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