One of the heroes of last week’s Westminster Bridge terrorist attack, foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood, cancelled his appearance at the last minute as guest speaker at Yachad’s annual fund-raising dinner on Monday evening.
The nearly 200 guests had been anxiously waiting to hear Mr Ellwood, who is minister for the Middle East, on what would have been his first public appearance since his failed attempt to save the life of PC Keith Palmer, fatally stabbed by Khalid Masood last Wednesday.
Mr Ellwood had every intention of attending the Yachad event, and confirmed as late as 6pm that evening. However, a renewed wave of publicity, including pictures of him viewing the floral tributes to PC Palmer in Parliament Square, which appeared in Monday’s Evening Standard, convinced him that the best way to deal with the unwanted limelight was to keep a low profile.
With deep apologies he asked the Yachad organisers to excuse him from appearing. He had been due to hold a Q&A session after his address and many guests were keen to ask about the government’s Middle East policies, particularly in the light of last week’s surprise contribution at the UN Human Rights Council.
