UK MP hailed for resuscitation attempt on policeman slain in London attack

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has been praised for his attempts to resuscitate a policeman slain in an attack in Westminster, London, Wednesday afternoon.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood (centre) helps emergency services attend to a police officer outside the Palace of Westminster, London. Source: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

UK Junior Foreign Minister Tobias Ellwood was pictured with blood on his face after trying in vain to save a policeman stabbed to death on the cobbled yard outside the Houses of Parliament.

"I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth-to-mouth (resuscitation) while waiting for the medics to arrive, but I think he had lost too much blood," the former military officer was quoted by The Sun tabloid as saying.

"It is a huge tragedy, it really is."

Fellow MPs and social media users hailed Ellwood, who served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and remains an army reservist, as a hero for his response.

The attack was not the first time he was touched by terrorism, as his brother Jonathan was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing.

Video: London attack