MP Tobias Ellwood gave first aid to PC Keith Palmer during the Westminster atrocity

Tobias Ellwood gave first aid to PC Keith Palmer after he was stabbed by Khalid Masood.

The former soldier told the inquests into the victims' deaths that despite the risk that Masood may have had a bomb in his abandoned car, his main concern was giving help to the stricken officer.

Despite the efforts of Mr Ellwood, fellow officers and paramedics, PC Palmer died at the scene.

The MP's brother Jonathan Ellwood was killed in a terrorist bombing in Indonesia in 2002.

Mr Ellwood told the Old Bailey: "My brother was killed in a secondary attack in Bali... so I was very aware of that.

"I was concerned about what would happen if things were to ratchet up, but my immediate concern was that we had somebody who was clearly badly bleeding and needed assistance."

During his rampage Masood, 52, killed Kurt Cochran, 54, Leslie Rhodes, 75, Aysha Frade, 44, and Andreea Cristea, 31, when he ploughed an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing PC Palmer to death at the gates to the Palace of Westminster.

Mr Ellwood, who represents Bournemouth East, said he saw two waves of people with "panic in their eyes" as he made his way to Parliament through the underground passageway.

"They were shouting, 'go, go, go, go' and, 'go back, go back'," he said, before his attention was drawn to the area where PC Palmer was attacked.

"My first observation was the number of armed officers that were pointing their weapons towards Carriage Gates," he said.

"I have never seen so many armed officers with their weapons out in the Houses of Parliament.

"Some, I think, were crouching in positions of protection, but all were aiming there weapons towards Carriage Gates.

"I could see there were two bodies lying in the ground and activity around both of them.

"The nearest one was clearly a police officer with other officers attempting to give him support."

Mr Ellwood said he stepped forward, making clear who he was to the armed officers.

"With no disrespect to those who were trying to give support to their fellow officer, I could see they could perhaps do with some assistance," he said.

"I said, 'I'm medically trained, can I help?'. I recall one of them saying 'Tell us what to do'.

"Immediately I started going through the drills to provide the necessary first aid support to the officer."

The MP said PC Palmer had lost a lot of blood and appeared pale, but had a pulse.

However, his wounds, particularly one underneath his left arm, were significant.

"He had lost a huge amount of blood," Mr Ellwood said.

"Unfortunately, as is the case in these situations, eventually his heart stopped as did his breathing, and that's when I commenced CPR."

Mr Ellwood continued giving CPR after paramedics and doctors from the helicopter ambulance team arrived.

Becoming emotional, he said: "Forgive me, it's sometimes easier to do the helping rather than to talk about it afterwards."

When it became clear that PC Palmer would not survive, Mr Ellwood told a doctor present: "You're going to have to order me to stop."

The medic said: "Sir, you've done your best, but you do need to stop."

He described the "eerie silence" at the Palace of Westminster as it stayed in lockdown in the aftermath of the carnage.

Mr Ellwood and one other person were left with the officer's body.

He said: "We both covered the body as best we could, closed the eyes, and I said 'I'm sorry'.

"It was very, very silent, it was a very strange end to a very traumatic four or five minutes, to suddenly be left completely alone with just one other person."

Mr Ellwood told the Old Bailey he believes members of the public should "step forward" in the face of terrorist atrocities.

"I know the official advice is to step back, report it," he said.

"I find myself countering that somewhat, because if more of us do step forward as we saw in the Manchester attack, London Bridge and Westminster Bridge as well, the message gets through that no terrorist is going to win."