The Associated Press
Jill Lawless
LONDON–Lawmakers and lords, researchers and reporters, cleaners and catering staff returned to Britain’s Parliament today as Britain’s seat of government shook off its shock and got back to work after an attack that left two civilians and a policeman dead.
The Parliament complex is not just a political cockpit but something much like a small town–complete with restaurants, shops, post office, and hairdresser–in which thousands of people work.
Now, it is a community in mourning.
Yesterday, an attacker plowed an SUV into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge, killing two and wounding dozens, then stabbed police officer Keith Palmer inside the gates of Parliament.
The assailant, identified as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. was shot dead by armed officers.
“The relationship between the police who guard us and members of both Houses–the Commons and the Lords–is very close,” former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell said.
“If you come here, within a few weeks they know you,” Campbell said.
“They are unfailingly polite, helpful–and, as we now know, incredibly brave.”
Campbell described the mood today as “incredibly sombre.”
He was returning to work after spending almost six hours yesterday stuck in his House of Lords office as police locked down Parliament following the attack.
Members of the House of Commons were confined to the chamber and adjoining rooms for several hours, along with visitors, including a group of schoolchildren who were kept calm and given candy by lawmakers.
Conservative lawmaker Nigel Evans said parliamentarians quickly realized how serious the situation was.
He said he looked down from a window and “saw the SWAT team coming in and shouting,” and a terrified young researcher walking towards them with his hands up.
“That will remain with me,” said Evans, who survived the 1984 IRA bombing of Brighton’s Grand Hotel during a Conservative Party conference.
He said today that he was “still in shock.”
But across Parliament, shock vied with a determination to confront fear with what Prime Minister Theresa May called “millions of acts of normality.”
The giant Big Ben bell bonged reassuringly on the hour, and lawmakers resumed the everyday business of grilling ministers about everything from Brexit to an unpopular proposed incinerator.
It was not quite business as usual, though. A blue police tent stood in the cobbled square just inside the complex’s gates and forensics officers in blue coveralls worked nearby.
The House of Commons opened with a minute’s silence in honour of the victims, and a sombre prime minister addressed lawmakers to condemn the attack, mourn the victims, and salute the bravery of police and emergency services.
Around the sprawling complex, parliamentarians and staff chatted over coffee or conferred in corridors.
But the mood remained jumpy. The sound of shouts from a police officer brought people rushing to windows.
It was a false alarm–someone had wandered where they shouldn’t have.
Almost everyone who works in Parliament has considered the possibility of violent attack. It is one of Britain’s most iconic buildings–a magnet for tourists and backdrop for countless television news reports.
Around the world, the neo-Gothic building capped by the four-sided Big Ben clock tower is visual shorthand for Britain and its political system.
May told lawmakers that, although a policeman died yesterday, Parliament’s security had held.
“An attacker attempted to break into Parliament and was shot dead within 20 yards of the gates,” she noted.
