Week 1

Resignation of Panel Member

Newly appointed member of the Grenfell Tower inquiry panel, Benita Mehra resigned just two days before the resumption of the inquiry.  Lawyers for more than 60 participants had urged her to quit.   It was revealed that Ms Mehra, a former president of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), had received funding from the Arconic Foundation for an apprentice conference. Arconic sold the flammable cladding that covered Grenfell Tower.  Requests have been made to the Judge and the Cabinet office for a new panel member to appointed swiftly.

Corporates ‘apply for ‘immunity’.  LFB and FBU Integrity

There were groans from bereaved families and survivors after an 11th-hour application was lodged by some private companies.  Harley Facades, main contractor, Rydon,  Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation and architects Studio E  are asking chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick to write to Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC asking for an undertaking that would stop any evidence staff gave being used against them in any future criminal proceedings.  The integrity of the Fire Brigade Union and the London Fire Service was applauded as they chose to give evidence with openness and transparency in Phase 1.

Request for Terms of reference to included institutional discrimination

In his opening statement Imran Khan QC, who represented the family of Stephen Lawrence, said the Grenfell inquiry should follow in the footsteps of the MacPherson inquiry into Stephen’s death in addressing the issue of institutional discrimination. He said Inquiry should review and broaden the terms of reference to examine whether the council and tenant management association were guilty of institutional discrimination on issues of race, religion and class. We also think that disability should be included.

Monday sees the start of Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry. There is a new venue, two additional panel members and the same terms of reference as phase 1.  So will Phase 2 deliver justice and long term change for the better? We think not!

At the start of Phase 1 in December 2017, Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, said:

 “Grenfell is a shocking injustice and the need for the inquiry to get to the truth is of value to us all. It can only do this if the individual voices of the bereaved and survivors are not lost and silenced. Recognising the bereaved as victims, placing them at the heart of the inquiry, is essential to help humanise the legal process.

“To assuage the profound anger and mistrust requires meaningful engagement of those affected, along with prompt, full and proper disclosure and a panel representative of the community. This can help instil confidence and encourage participation.”

Has the Inquiry listened and acted on this crucial piece of advice? No

The new venue is nearer to north Kensington, enabling a shorter distance to travel and avoiding travel on the underground, bereaved families and Survivors asked for this. However they also raised issues about conditions inside the building, including the lack of natural daylight, poor ventilation, and a claustrophobic room for the hearings.  The same complaints have been raised about the new venue.

After eleven months of lobbying, Theresa May agreed to appoint two additional ‘diverse’ panel members to sit alongside the Chair. There appeared to be some confusion on what a diverse panel entailed.  What was needed were panel members that understood diverse communities like North Kensington.  To understand the full reasons behind what happened at Grenfell Tower, it is important that the inquiry appreciated the social and cultural aspects of the community where it happened.  However, this was interpreted by the cabinet office as putting ‘black and brown’ faces on the panel.    This lack of understanding led to the appointment by PM Boris Johnson, of Benita Mehra, an engineer, who previously ran an organisation which received a £71,000 grant from the Arconic Foundation, the manufacturer’s philanthropic arm. Yes, Arconic who manufacture the highly combustible cladding panel system, that the first phase of the inquiry has already established were “the principal reason why the flames spread so rapidly up the building” causing the inferno. Did Cabinet Office officials not carry out due diligence in checking any concerns regarding Ms Mehra’s suitability for the panel?  It also appears that they did not fully brief the Prime minister either.  How does this severe lack of care and scrutiny, keep the bereaved and survivors at the heart of the inquiry? Within any other public sphere, this would be tantamount to non-verbal bullying. .  Ms Mehra has now resigned on the eve of the inquiry.  

There has been no review or refresh of the Inquiry’s terms of reference for Phase 2.  The full terms of reference for the public inquiry, accepted in full by the then prime minister, Theresa May, are:

• The cause and spread of the fire;
• The design, construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower;
• The scope and adequacy of the relevant regulations relating to high-rise buildings;
• Whether the relevant legislation and guidance were complied with in the case of Grenfell Tower; The actions of the local authority and other bodies before the tragedy;
• The response of the London Fire Brigade to the fire and the response of central and local government in the aftermath.

 Broader questions on social housing, working class communities, social inequality or institutional discrimination were not included.  Calls for the inquiry to broaden its terms of reference and include these issues fell on deaf ears.  This implicitly reveals their lack of interest, to know if these matters played any part in the events surrounding the fire at Grenfell.  Moreover, there is no obligation for the Inquiry panel to make recommendations on vital changes for our communities in the future.

If you do not keep ‘people’ at the heart of it, then you lose touch with what the inquiry’s paramount role is. This is the litmus test of any Pubic Inquiry.  Inquiries are the responsibility of the government; that they did not listen and act once is unfortunate, to not listen and act twice is careless, thereafter we can only conclude that their consistent inertia is deliberate and belligerent.   Seventy-two men, women and children perished at Grenfell and our community has continued to make demands; we want the truth, we want accountability, we want answers, we want changes in our society to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. The consistent Institutional indifference shown by the local authority (RBKC) and the tenant management organisation to the former residents during the refurbishment of the Tower; appears to be also permeating through the Inquiry’s attitudes. When will they listen to the voices of those most affected? In the words of Deborah Coles, ‘without this (their voices) the inquiry will be flawed and will fail those seeking the truth and justice they deserve.’ We agree.

He stood in the constituency despite having never contributed anything to our community, and split the vote

I am still in shock at what happened in Kensington in the early hours of Friday morning, when our Labour MP Emma Dent Coad lost her seat to Conservative candidate Felicity Buchan.

I am pessimistic, angry, baffled and bewildered, but these feelings are insignificant to the ones I had on 14 June 2017 when I stood at the base of Grenfell Tower, where at least 72 men, women and children lost their lives, and watched it aflame.

The general election in 2017, days before the fire, had resulted in Kensington electing its first Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad – a real community champion. There is no doubt that ex-Conservative, now Liberal Democrat candidate Sam Gymiah is to blame for the result in Kensington on Friday. He stood in the constituency despite having no previous links to the area and having never contributed anything to our community. In fact, his previous voting record on human rights and social inequality are atrocious – and certainly not in line with the community ethos here.

The early retirement of Dany Cotton,follows pressure for her resignation, when she so crassly suggested, at the Public Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire that the fire service “would not do anything different on the night”.

It is important that the fire service shows that it is an institution capable of learning and her early retirement should usher in a new phase where the incoming commissioner will be able demand that recommendations from report of Phase 1 of the Public Inquiry are actioned with greater speed and political will than they have been so far. Let’s hope that those ministers and organisations who have so far evaded scrutiny, are also held accountable and take responsibility for the cause of the fire in which 72 people needlessly lost their lives. It is time for a new era of safety so that a fire like Grenfell never happens again.

This is an appalling statement to make but unsurprisingly symptomatic of Rees Mogg’s ilk. His government failed to implement the recommendations from the Lakanall House Inquiry, leaving the fire service and local authority with ‘stay put’ advice as a national policy and no full evacuation procedure ( not even one that the residents knew) . Rees-Mogg has a privileged background. What is his experience of living in social housing? How many tower blocks has he lived in?

It was his government who destroyed the fire and safety regulations. It was a local authority run by his political party that cost cut and ignored residents’ concerns resulting in the Grenfell atrocity. To suggest that those who followed ‘his’ party’s instructions were not using ‘common sense’ is an absolute insult. That he thinks that this issue is nothing to do with race or class, reveals all we need to know about the upper class, Etonian , Oxbridge ‘ honourable member for the 18^th Century’.

He should be ashamed of himself.  But does it matter to him with a net worth of £55 million? He’s better off sticking to talking about Brexit.  He does not know anything about BAME and working class communities or their life experiences and this kind of statement is evidence of that.

May the 72 souls who died at Grenfell rest in everlasting peace.

Grenfell,
then fell
in front
of our
eyes.

The terror
it gave
those,in
total surprise.

They lost
family,they
lost friends,
and for them
the torture never ends.

The Fire burns on,
building it’s flames,
we will never forget,
those many names.

 (written by Eva Olaiya – age 10 years old)

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