Much has been said, and written, about the terrorist outrage which took place at Westminster on March 22. Alistair Lexden was asked by the BBC to talk about previous occasions on which terrorists had targeted Parliament for the programme, ‘The World This Week’, broadcast over the weekend of March 25/26 on the BBC World Service.
There have been three such occasions. On 24 January 1885 bombs planted by Irish terrorists, forerunners of the IRA, exploded in Westminster Hall and at the entrance to the chamber of the House of Commons, causing two balconies to collapse (it was a Saturday so no MPs were around). Six people, including two policemen, were injured. On 17 June 1974 the IRA detonated a bomb in Westminster Hall at 8.30am. 11 people were injured.
These attacks were designed to cause damage, not to kill. The only person before PC Palmer, victim on March 22, to be murdered was Airey Neave, the target of Westminster’s third previous terrorist outrage, on 30 March 1979. In his interview, Alistair Lexden spoke of his memories of the day that the then Conservative Northern Ireland Spokesman, for whom he worked, was murdered when a bomb planted in his car by the so-called Irish National Liberation Army, a small splinter group, exploded as he drove out of the Commons car park.
Follow the link to listen to the interview… The World This Week (link expires 24th April 2017)