Theresa May tells of sobering moment she was first told of Manchester Arena terror attack


Theresa May has revealed the horrifying moment she heard she was the target of a jihadi murder plot to assassinate her in No10 a year into her term as Prime Minister. 

ISIS-supporting terrorist Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman planned to bomb the gates of Downing Street, kill guards and then assassinate the prime minister with a knife or gun. 

Describing the moment she heard of his plans from MI5, Mrs May said: ‘I was first told about (the plot) by the security service and it’s…. as anybody would feel when you are told that somebody is trying to do you harm, obviously it’s a matter of concern.

‘The first thing is being grateful to all those who are putting their effort into making sure that a threat of that sort doesn’t materialise.’   

Theresa May was one year into her premiership when she was at the centre of a jihadi assassination plot 

Asked if the plan by Rahman to kill her in Number 10 made her query being PM, she continued: ‘No, this is a job, it’s an important job to do, being a member of parliament is an important job, being able to have the honour and privilege of being prime minister is such.’

On hearing that Rahman had been arrested and convicted with a 30-year sentence, Mrs May said she felt ‘that justice had been done’.

Mrs May also revealed how she was first told of the Manchester Arena terror attack as she prepared for bed.  

The former Prime Minister was in the midst of the May 2017 general election campaign when she took a phone call from her private secretary informing her about the atrocity, which left 22 people dead. 

She told ITV Tonight: ‘I was getting ready I think, getting ready to go to bed. There was something on the radio about something having happened in Manchester, but then I took a phone call from my private secretary who explained that this had been an attack, [but] unable at that stage to say how many victims there had been but knew that many of them were children.’

Mrs May received a briefing from M15 chief Andrew Parker with the latest information about what was unfolding in Manchester, before also hearing from the emergency services. 

Praising their response, she said: ‘It’s incredibly moving, it’s also incredibly heartening when you see the best of humanity in the emergency services, in the NHS but also when I talk to victims and their families, tremendous courage and people who really have been potentially scarred … for life.’ 

The MP for Maidenhead took over in Downing Street in July 2016 and during her premiership faced further terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, Finsbury Park Mosque and Parsons Green Tube station.   

Mrs May received a briefing from M15 chief Andrew Parker with the latest information about what was unfolding in Manchester, before also hearing from the emergency services. Pictured are survivors with police

Mrs May received a briefing from M15 chief Andrew Parker with the latest information about what was unfolding in Manchester, before also hearing from the emergency services. Pictured are survivors with police 

Mrs May has raked in more than £400,000 from lucrative speaking engagements since stepping down as PM. 

Earlier this month, she revealed she once had to undress in the cockpit of an RAF jet in the middle of a flight. 

Mrs May was at the centre of a murder plot by Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman (pictured)

Mrs May was at the centre of a murder plot by Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman (pictured) 

The ex-premier told a women’s conference in the Gulf she had been forced to get changed into evening clothes behind a make-shift screen en-route to an official dinner.

The eye-watering admission from the normally straight-laced ex-PM came at the Global Women’s Forum Dubai, where the audience included Ivanka Trump.

Asked if she had faced any tricky moments as a female PM, she spoke of a trip on an RAF flight with no changing facilities – but with staff prepared for any eventuality.

‘They took up me into the cockpit, there with two pilots, and I’m thinking ”really?”,’ she said to applause and laughter.

‘A chap comes along with sticky tape and a sheet, and he stuck it up behind the pilots and says: ”There you go, you can change behind that”,’ she said.

The Tonight show, Inside MI5: Keeping The UK Safe with Rohit Kachroo will air on Thursday 27th February 2019 at 19:30.  

Mrs May will appear in a report tonight about MI5. Pictured are the scanners at the entrance of the security service's headquarters

Mrs May will appear in a report tonight about MI5. Pictured are the scanners at the entrance of the security service’s headquarters