EAST Lothian MP George Kerevan has revealed that only a chance conversation stopped him from coming face-to-face with the terrorist who left four people dead during last Wednesday’s attack at Westminster.

Mr Kerevan was among 250 MPs who were in the House of Commons chambers for a vote when Khalid Masood launched his deadly attack in London.

He said: “I asked the Speaker if there was going to be a second vote and decided to wait for that.

“If I hadn’t run into the Speaker and asked the question, I would have been out on the yard when it happened.

“It is a sobering thought.”

Masood, 52, killed three pedestrians and injured about 50 others during a rampage which lasted just 82 seconds.

He drove his car into crowds of people on Westminster Bridge, leaving a trail of carnage, before crashing the vehicle in the railings in front of Parliament Yard and running through open gates to the Palace of Westminster, fatally stabbing unarmed PC Keith Palmer, 48.

Masood was shot dead moments later by an armed close protection officer attached to Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon.

Mr Kerevan said that the mood in the chamber at Westminster was tense as MPs found themselves in a lockdown – the first time this has happened at Parliament.

He said: “Everyone was being very calm but also very frustrated because there was nothing we could do. The first thing I did was phone round all my staff on the estate [Westminster] and in Haddington to make sure everyone was OK and safe.

“The SWAT squad arrived in chambers to check how many MPs were there; they were really sweating, their stress levels were obviously really high.

“It was obviously a really serious security breach.”

At least 50 people of 12 different nationalities were injured, including 12 from Britain, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the US.

Police made a dozen arrests after a series of searches at properties in towns and cities across England following the attack. Two people remain in custody, although police have said they believe Masood acted alone.

Mr Kerevan paid tribute to the police, as well as staff at St Thomas’ Hospital, who ran out to help people who were injured in the moments following the atrocity.

He said: “This was an evil act, a senseless act and not one I will associate with Islam.”