Thanks to our Thin Blue Line

We all respond differently to dreadful events but we can be united in the view that the attack onWestminster was an appalling act that deliberately targeted a prominent symbol of our society’s democracy.

In a very similar manner as when Jo Cox was murdered in the street following a constituency surgery, this felt close to home for me.

I spent six years at Westminster as a Member of Parliament, going in and out the very entrance where this week’s attack happened.

Whatever the weather, whatever else was going on, you always got a friendly smile from the police officer on the door. You got to know them and you valued their presence.

It may seem as though they are only there in some sort of ceremonial capacity but they are always alert and, as we saw so tragically just a few days ago, prepared to put themselves on the line to protect those on the other side of the door.

PC Keith Palmer was doing hisjob. Hedidsowithgreat bravery, putting himself before others and he was killed in the process.

Keith Palmer, the father and husband, left his family to go to work onWednesday and he didn’t come home. He, and the other victims of this outrage are in my thoughts and in my prayers.

Having worked very closely with the police during my time as Minister for Community Safety I know very well indeed that it truly is a job like no other and we should all go forward with an enhanced understanding of the work that all of our police officers do and gratitude for the commitment with which they carry out their responsibilities.

All our emergency services are full of amazing people. When incidents like this happen, they are the ones running towards danger when everyone else is, understandably, running the other way.

Others, not in uniform, sometimes do that too and I would like to pay tribute to Tobias Ellwood MP, a minister in the Foreign Office.

He happened to be in New PalaceYard when PC Palmer was attacked and, with his training as a former army officer kicking in, instead of running for cover he tried to save him, giving mouth-tomouth resuscitation.

Let us grieve for Keith Palmer and for the others killed and injured but let us also make it quite clear that we will not allow terrorists to change the way in which our society operates.

Just as we stood with Paris and with Orlando and with Brussels, so we stand with London.

An open, democratic society will not give way to the actions of terrorists.