PRIME Minister David Cameron has praised the Northumberland holidaymaker who helped save fellow tourists during the massacre in Tunisia using skills he learned in the Territorial Army.
Paul Short, from Wooler, applied a tourniquet to one injured victim who was bleeding heavily, while the gunman was nearby.
He then rescued another man, pushing him behind cover as terrorist Seiffeddine Rezgui shot at them, Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan highlighted his bravery in the House of Commons during the high-profile weekly questions to the Prime Minister, telling MPs: "My constituent Paul Short from Wooler showed great courage during the Tunisian massacre last week by helping save the life of an inured victim with first aid skills he'd learnt as a member of the Territorial army."
She asked the Prime Minister to explain how new laws in the Government's Extremism Bill would 'tackle extremists and stand up for our values of democracy, equality, free speech and respect for minorities.' Mr Cameron said: "Let me take the opportunity of praising her constituent and the skills that were used on that day in Tunisia."
He added: "What our bill will do is reinforce the work we've already done to increase funding into counter-terrorism and counter-terrorism policing, to make sure we have this duty on public authorities to combat radicalisation."
The Prime Minister highlighted plans to introduce new orders to ban organisations which oppose democracy or use hate speech in public places. He said there was a problem with groups and people in the UK "who are very clever at endorsing extremism but stopping one step short of actually condoning terrorism." Mr Short spoke this week about his experience during the terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia, where he was on holiday with his wife Sarah.
After making sure his wife was safe in her hotel room, he tended to a man who was bleeding heavily from being shot.
He said: "I shoved the towel into his leg and put a tourniquet on him - he was more concerned about his wife, but his wife was lying above him and she was already dead and I didn't want to tell him."
Mr Short told of how a deaf man then started walking towards him, shouting for his wife.
He said: "The gunman turned around and started firing at him, I ran up and took him behind the pillar while the gunman shot at him, taking out the coffee table ... he started running up to the two of us."
Mr Short helped the deaf man into a hotel room and "jumped under a settee" as the gunman threw a grenade.