‘My son Tobias did what I would have expected him to do’
THE mother of Tobias Ellwood has spoken of her pride at the MP’s courageous efforts to save Pc Keith Palmer, but said: “It was only what I would have expected him to do.”
Dr Caroline Ellwood insisted that the Foreign Office minister should not be singled out as a hero, as there were many who tried to help in the wake of Wednesday’s terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, Theresa May said she would give “proper consideration” to giving the MP a bravery medal as she paid tribute to the former soldier’s “professionalism” in the face of danger.
Mr Ellwood, 50, who served in the Royal Green Jackets and left with the rank of captain, rushed to help Pc Palmer, attempting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and pumping his heart until paramedics arrived.
Pictures of him kneeling beside the fallen policeman, his hands covered in blood, went around the world within hours of the attack.
Dr Ellwood told The Daily Telegraph: “I am very proud of my son. But what he did was only what I would have expected him to do. I don’t think he was particularly a hero.
“Every single other person who was there as well was also a hero – the nurses, medical teams and politicians and police officers. If you are going to talk about heroes then you need to talk about all of these people.”
In 2002, Mr Ellwood’s 39-year-old brother, Jonathan, was one of 202 people killed when terrorists blew up an Irish bar and nightclub on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali. Dr Ellwood, a historian and editor who lives in Hertfordshire, said the terrorist attack in London brought back painful memories of her son’s murder. “It made things very difficult,” she said.
Dr Ellwood has three children with her former husband Peter, a UN worker. Her daughter, Totty EllwoodAris, is head of an international school in Malta.
The Prime Minister telephoned Mr Ellwood on Wednesday night to thank him for his efforts to save Pc Palmer.
He was back in the Commons chamber yesterday to hear Mrs May’s statement on the attacks.
Mrs May paid tribute to his “huge professionalism” in trying to save Pc Palmer’s life while “in the middle of a terrorist attack – and he is someone who knows the trauma and tragedy of losing somebody in a terrorist attack”.