THE people of Manchester must summon the spirit of the Second World War to overcome the horrors of Monday night’s terror attack.

That is the message from the former Brighton Kemptown MP who was in office at the time of The Grand hotel bombing in 1984.

Sir Andrew Bowden said the people of Manchester could look to the aftermath of the IRA attack on the city as well as this country’s spirit during the Second World War.

He said: “It was an appalling attack, particularly the targeting of young children.

“But I believe the spirit which we saw after the Brighton bombing is the same spirit we will see now in Manchester.

“We are one nation, a great nation and we are not going to give in to terrorists.

“I think we have to be careful in not allowing this terror group to destroy our way of life.

“That is what they want to do but we must continue to go about our day-to-day business.”

The 87-year-old said there were also similarities with the Second World War.

He said: “Going back to when I was a young boy I can remember the terrible things every day happening all around us.

“Homes being bombed, children dying.

“We said then, ‘we are not going to be intimidated or frightened by the Nazis’.

“We got on with what we had to do and life went on, regardless of the horrors.

“I think we have to recognise there are similarities between the Nazis and this evil group which is out to destroy us.”

Remembering the aftermath of the 1984 IRA bombing, he said: “The reaction to the attack I think was epitomised by the Prime Minister herself.

“In the minutes after I was taken to John Street police station where the Prime Minister was along with the chief constable and other important people.

“She said to the chief constable ‘I will go wherever you want me to go overnight but you will take me to the conference at 9am in the morning’.

“I think this sort of attitude is absolutely vital at a time like this.

“I think that sort of attitude is something unique to our nation.

“I think it runs through this entire nation, regardless of colour, creed, background and religion.

“We will not give in, we will not be defeated.”

Many in Manchester fostered that spirit yesterday as the city tried to come to terms with the loss of life.

Piccadilly Gardens, one of the city’s main public spaces, was packed with workers on their lunch break listening to a busker singing songs of defiance after Monday night’s terror attack.

Hundreds of Mancunians sat in the sun-drenched square as the musician sang songs such as All You Need Is Love by the Beatles.

The singer even adapted the lyrics of Bob Marley’s Everything’s Gonna Be Alright to include a reference to the 1996 IRA bomb that struck the city.

“We were all right in the 90s and came back stronger,” he sang.

And last night it was business as usual for many of Manchester’s well-known entertainment establishments.

Night and Day, a 25-year-old institution of the city’s music scene, and popular venue Soup Kitchen both staged their concerts as planned.

Jay Taylor, the booker at Night and Day, spent part of yesterday morning phoning colleagues at other venues in the city to discuss the attack and said they agreed on the need to continue hosting live music and not give in.

She said: “Everyone here is heartbroken.

“Our job when we open our doors of an evening is to welcome people in with open arms, make them happy and then wish them well and send them on their way, and that’s what every venue’s job is.

“We’re not going to stop what we’re doing because of one wingnut.”

However, other events in the city were cancelled out of respect to those who died.

Stand-up comedians Jason Manford and John Bishop postponed a charity gig which was due to be staged at The Lowry in the city.

Take That, who were due to play at Manchester Arena, on Thursday also cancelled.