GORDON Brown talked privately in the run-up to the handover of power from Tony Blair to himself not of his actions in the first 100 days of government, but of his first 100 hours. He knows, as a shrewd politician, that in this rapidly-moving world there is something of an accelerated timetable in which to make an impact, to shape his policy and to carve into the minds of the British public the image of the kind of Prime Minister he wishes to be.
With less than one-third of his first 100 hours in 10 Downing Street passed, his political agenda was hijacked by a bungled terrorist attack obviously aimed at sending a message to Britain about their acts on the world stage.
650 people were in the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket, the heart of London’s West End. Her Majesty’s Theatre was yards away from the place where a silver-green Mercedes pulled up on the curb, abandoned with all four doors open and lights flashing, by a would-be bomber. With 60 litres of fuel in the boot, surrounded by packs of nails and propane to act as a combustor, it would have created carnage for Gordon Brown, only a day and a half into his term as Prime Minister, and for his new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, given office in Brown’s government of all the talents just 12 hours earlier.
It was the actions of an ambulance team who noticed smoke coming from the car before 2am on Friday morning, in calling the emergency services and – most crucially – a bomb disposal team, which prevented the deaths of many. As it was, the terrorist achieved – in part – their aim: the Haymarket was closed for the entire day, and as the clock ticks down towards what would be, on any normal day, curtains up for the West End shows, looks to have cancelled at least two of the plays running in London’s theatre district.
And there is undoubtedly a man willing to detonate a bomb, causing horrific injuries and loss of life to fellow humankind running from the authorities in London tonight. That police were called to Park Lane car park to investigate another suspicious vehicle, which attendants said smelt strongly of petrol, indicates that this was not planned to be a single, solitary attack on the capital. It seems likely that the perpetrator of this plot has at his disposal enough nouse to plan simultaneous detonations – and enough daring to carry out his horrific plans.
Police have searched today the streets of Haymarket for any indication of evidence from the first car bomb. They have meticulously searched through CCTV footage of the area in an attempt to identify the suspect, and it seems likely that they will release pictures to the public if they do not, as they seem to indicate, know who planned to bring London to its’ knees today.
Unsurprisingly, Londoners carried on as normal as possible today, between the traffic jams and police cordons. Tourists in Hyde Park were moved out from the grounds, but those used to terrorist attacks, and the relative normality of living in a city threatened with the fear of terrorism, remained steadfast. The Prime Minister echoed their attitude: Lord Stevens has become Brown’s international security advisor; Admiral Sir Alan West is a security minister at the Home Office, alongside several other appointments today. They will have to become accustomed to their job very rapidly, and help Detective Assistant Constable Peter Clarke of the Anti-Terrorist Squad to establish just what happened today in London, on June 29, 2007.
