OVERSHADOWING everything this week has been the dreadful and senseless attack on Parliament, which happened so quickly and saw us all being locked down for several hours while the estate was made safe.

There is little to show for it now – a patch of cobbles on the main Parliamentary square, notably scrubbed clean and marked with a simple wreath, which identifies the place where brave PC Keith Palmer fell, while bunches of spring flowers have been placed on the railings and along Westminster Bridge to express our sorrow and anger at the loss of innocent lives.

The events of last Wednesday were disruptive, surreal and awful and will no doubt lead to security reforms in and around the Parliamentary estate, but our amazing national resilience shone through and we have returned to normal remarkably quickly.

It will take more than a few isolated wannabe terrorists to cause the heart of British democracy to miss a beat or to stop us from getting on with what we are here to do; serve our constituents and the national interest.

And a good thing too, as it will be an incredibly busy time ahead as we trigger Article 50 this week.

It feels as if we are lining up alongside the Brexit pitch, about to throw the first ball onto the field to start a period of frantic play.

We know the length of the encounter – up to two years from this Wednesday unless both teams agree on extra time.

We know that the home crowd wants a win. We also have lots of useful slogans to motivate the team with ‘Take Back Control’ being the main one, but beyond that it is, for many people, all a bit vague.

What does a goal look like? For example, if we take back control on immigration but the numbers of people coming to the UK don’t fall (because we need or want their skills to support us), does that count on the scoreboard?

If we have to pay to access the single market (in the sense of being able to buy and sell goods without tariffs or multiple customs checks), will that also count as one in the back of the net or will that be a red card for some? And what does the score have to be at the end of the match to convince everyone that we have won?

This will be a full-speed, all-consuming match, but we are committed to getting on with it and delivering the best possible result for Britain.