The Mother of Parliaments
March 22 2017
Picture: ArtUk/Parliamentary Art Collection
Today's terrorist attack on Parliament must have been terrifying. Four people died and many more were injured, for no reason at all. Our hearts go out to all those affected. When, many years ago, I used to work there I was often struck by how many paintings in the Parliamentary Art Collection depicted the Palace under some form of attack. Many works showed the aftermath of a bombing raid during World War Two (as above, in John Piper's view of the House of Commons in May 1941 during the Blitz), or when much of the old Palace was destroyed by fire in 1834, or during the various events of the Civil War. The story they told, of course, is that Parliament - not just the place itself, but the ideals that made it and the values that it projects - can never be defeated.
