The best of times, the worst of times

Courage of passers-by who tackled terrorist stands in marked contrast to the actions of our Prime Minister

Thefootagethathasemerged of civilians helping to stop the London Bridge terrorist attacker is humbling.

In the face of danger to life, one man grabbed a Narwhal tusk from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall, where the attack began.

Another sprayed the attacker with foam from a fire extinguisher while the third directly tackled Usman Khan.

Khan has already killed two people and injured three more and was wearing a fake suicide vest. They had no way of knowing whether it was real.

In the face of this danger they put the interests of others ahead of their own.

They stood up. They took action. They contained the threat until the police arrived, in scenes reminiscent of the Glasgow Airport terror attack of 2007.

This is bravery.

The contrast with our Prime Minister couldn’t be more stark.

After days of dodging an interview with Andrew Neil – in which all he has to do is sit in a chair and answer questions about his election manifesto and record in government – Boris Johnson used his time on the BBC’S Andrew Marr programme to politicise these deaths.

Attention has inevitably turned to how such an event could have been avoided, but rather than a coolheaded rational analysis, Mr Johnson singled out sentencing as the main issue and blamed Labour for “automatic early release” – despite the Conservatives having been in power for ten years and there being no mention of reforming this in the party’s election manifesto.

The truth is that these cases are complex.

Terror attacks are increasingly from lone wolves using everyday items such as vans and knives, making them harder to spot.

It places a greater burden on community policing, the prison service and probation services.

Many of these areas have borne the brunt of austerity cuts.

Our Prime Minister should be seeking to learn genuine lessons from this case. Not using the heat of a general election campaign to act in a self-serving manner to support his own position.