‘We will never allow evil to drive us apart’
May’s message of defiance to the nation after terrorist kills four at Parliament Westminster Bridge carnage as attacker ploughs through crowds in 4x4 MP praised for dashing to help as stabbed policeman lay dying
A DEFIANT Theresa May last night insisted terrorist attacks on our democracy were “doomed to failure” after a lone extremist killed four people in Westminster.
An unarmed policeman was stabbed to death inside the gates of Parliament and the terrorist killed three other people after mowing down pedestrians in his car on Westminster Bridge.
He was shot dead by an armed police officer on duty at Parliament.
The Prime Minister said the target of the “sick and depraved” attack was “no accident” as the streets of Westminster were “ingrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe”, making it “a target for those who reject those values”.
Mrs May added: “Any attempt to de- feat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure.” Announcing that Parliament would convene as normal today, she said: “We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.”
The dead policeman was named last night as 48-year-old Pc Keith Palmer, a member of the force’s parliamentary and diplomatic protection command.
The attack came on the first anniversary of the Brussels terrorist raid and left 40 people, including schoolchildren, injured. It exposed a flaw in the security of Westminster, as MPs said the killer had exploited a “well-known weak spot”.
It also emerged that the killer was “on the radar” of the security services but was not under surveillance, according to sources.
Speaking outside Scotland Yard, acting deputy commissioner Mark Rowley said: “We think we know who the attacker is. We are looking for associates.” He refused to comment on the identity of the attacker, but said they were working on the assumption that the attack was “Islamist-related terrorism”. In other developments: Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister, was hailed as a hero after he tried desperately to save the life of the stabbed policeman;
Scotland Yard said that the attack was “a day that we had planned for, that we hoped would never happen, but sadly it is now a reality”;
A woman reportedly escaped with her life by jumping into the Thames as the terrorist’s car bore down on her;
The Queen cancelled a planned visit to New Scotland Yard to open its new home on the Thames, just yards from where the attack took place.
Mrs May, who chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee last night to discuss the response to the attack, was in the voting lobby of the House of Commons when the terrorist struck.
The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson last night described the attack as “heartbreaking”. He said: “This is not the first attack on London or our Parliament –and won’t be the last – but our values will prevail.
“Nations around the world are pouring out their sympathies for us today. This is a fight we’re all in together.”
Last night MPs called for a “complete overhaul” of security as it emerged that the attacker was less than 100 yards from the Prime Minister’s official vehicle when he was shot dead in New Pal- ace Yard. He was able to stab Pc Palmer to death after he forced his way on to the Parliamentary estate through a gate that is left unlocked.
The gate, known as Carriage Gates, is always manned by two police officers, who usually leave it slightly ajar because it is in frequent use. But if the iron double gate had been shut with a bolt across it, it would have been impossible for the intruder to pass.
Lord Kerslake, former head of the civil service, said there would now have to be “a complete overhaul of security from top to bottom”.
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Cabinet minister, said it was a “little bit of a surprise there wasn’t an armed policeman near the gate”. But Richard Benyon, a Conservative MP, said he was “irritated” by reports that parliamentary security was breached. He said on Twitter: “Attacker was taken down at gate. Highly professional response.”