Westminster attack: We cannot become complacent

IN the fullness of time, the motivation behind yesterday’s attack on London will become clearer. What is already clear, however, is that the democracy and freedoms we often take for granted are fragile flowers that require nurturing.

This was not just an attack on the English capital but a direct assault on the seat of the British government and on democracy itself. In that sense, it shares similarities with the Brighton bombing of 1984 when the Provisional IRA attempted to wipe out Margaret Thatcher’s government. One of her cabinet ministers, Norman Tebbit, was seriously injured in the attack on the Grand Hotel where the Conservative Party was holding its annual conference. Mr Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed.

The Provos made another attempt in 1991, targeting the Downing Street home of the then prime minister John Major in a mortar attack. Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt.