Speaking in an interview to air on Thursday, to mark six months on from the Westminster terror attack on Friday, Tobias Ellwood MP has given an in-depth TV interview to ITV News London anchor Nina Hossain.

In the moving interview, which took place shortly before the Parson’s Green attack, Ellwood describes his actions on that day as he attempted to save the life of PC Keith Palmer. He goes into detail about how he talked to his young son about what had happened, how terrorists will “never win”, how education is a “more sustainable weapon against extremism than any army” and how he aims to carry on his brother’s work “to break down the barriers between religions, between nationalities, between nations, for a better understanding of what humanity is all about.”

TRANSCRIPT:

TE: “The division bell went and I was going across the Parliamentary estate and I heard the crash of the car but I didn’t see it. It was on the wrong side of the barrier so I was aware of what was going on. I went down the escalator and through the colonnades and saw the gun line and saw two bodies on the ground. It was clear that the police officer [PC Palmer] was losing a lot of blood and action needed to be taken straight away.”

Nina Hossain: You come from a military background…what were you thinking at that point?

“There are people that want to step forward, I’m an interventionist in my nature, that’s why I joined the army, it’s why I got into politics, so wanting to help and wanting to do that but I was only able to provide some help because of that training.”

Q. Have you sought any help since the attack?

“No, no”.

Q. Is that a conscious decision?

“It's probably very typical of a man and ex-Army. But I'm conscious I should be aware of it.”

Q. Going to work now…Do you feel like you are protected in parliament?

“I was very aware that as I was with others in trying to keep PC Keith Palmer alive, the gates remained open. Indeed a courier turned up on his moped circled around a couple of times and went out again and that shouldn’t happen in our day and age. There needs to be a big red button that gets hit as soon as something happens and there’s lockdown.”

Q. How hard was it to talk to your son about what had happened? His Daddy had gone to work and suddenly everything had changed…

“I found him at the top of the stairs. He was refusing to go to bed. It was very late. He wanted answers. He couldn’t understand firstly why someone had done something as terrible as this and then he was puzzled as to why I stepped forward into danger to help. All I could suggest that there are some very bad people in this world but there are also some good people and the good people do outnumber the bad people and we must stand up to these things. The advice is always to run away but I’m finding… I can’t because officially you can’t say it, to say actually no, let’s charge them down, let’s deal with it. They will never win. They will never win. It doesn’t matter who it is that’s going to stand in their way but we are all going to stand together and we are bigger than you.”

Q. At times in the summer it felt like a hopeless battle. You still have hope? You still believe it can be a battle that can eventually be won?

“I do. And we pay tribute to the work that’s been done to break down Daesh/ ISIL in Iraq, in Syria and that is good. But unfortunately we are seeing extremism flourish elsewhere and that must be on the messaging. It must be on the fact that Islam is a peaceful religion. It’s also to do with education. Education is a more sustainable weapon against extremism than any army. Critical thought is going to prevent any extremist from getting into your head to be able to make you believe that it’s a worthy cause to kill other people.”

Q. I’m almost astonished by how positive you are about believing that we can overcome the threat we face because not only were you there in the thick of it during Westminster but your brother was killed 15 years ago in Bali. This has happened upon your family before yet you sit here believing good has come out of these horrific events we’ve seen…

“Good must come out of it. We have no choice. We can’t allow this to succeed. We have to recognise that the deeper problems that are here because it is those vulnerable people, it is those mentally unstable or those who are impoverished or those who are disenfranchised that are identified and sold this story of becoming a martyr for the benefit of a form of a religion which we know is not true. To counter that, that’s the work we need to set about collectively, internationally and Britain has a role to play in that. It is going to be generational. Who are the authoritative voices to be able to condemn these so youngsters don’t come through believing that this is true. The Mosque has been replaced by the internet as the main communicator, so these are the challenges we face today. If we do give up, the terrorist wins and that’s a position I can never accept. Because there are stars shining above us with names on and they are looking down at us and they want us to do more.”

Q. How did your mother cope having lost son to terrorism and learning another had been caught up in terror attack here in London?

She wasn't surprised of my actions of the day and I think because of my history that's how my day unfolded in March. Her message is the same as mine. My brother worked in an international school in Vietnam and he was a facilitator to get the best out of other people. No matter what nationality, no matter what religion and that’s the determination that I want to continue on, to say that we need to break down the barriers between religions, between nationalities, between nations, for a better understanding of what humanity is all about.”

Q. Trying to bring together what's … Is there something we're not doing that could change the way people think?

“Two aspects. The personal one in how does any individual who's been affected by terrorism in any form cope and move forward and how does Britain? We’ve had a difficult year. Terrorist attacks, Grenfell, questions about Brexit and where our country sits in Europe, indecisive election result as well. We live in uncertain times and you can understand if people feel less safe and confident than in the past.

“Yes, we've had a turbulent year, yes it's been difficult, yes we've challenged but we've endured worse before - we will continue, we will endure, we will be stronger.”

Q. What about those who are afraid and can't embrace that feeling?

“We need to make sure that we give the police all the support that they need, extra funding has been put in, more armed officers than ever before. Announcement of the pay round as well but we also need to recognise that psychologically there will be those that will be troubled too and we must make sure that the charities, the NHS programmes are there to support. That needs to be made clear.”

Q. Should there be permanent memorial to PC Keith Palmer?

“That's for the family to determine though I would certainly support anything that recognises what he did. He gave his life defending democracy and doing his job and we will be forever grateful. That was reflected in a very moving funeral. Also the following day when we were determined to not allow democracy to pause when we met in the chamber and the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition and member after member paid tribute to what he'd done and the sacrifice he had made.”