Grenfell Enquiry: Double Standards
he Grenfell fire in June 2017 killed 72 people. The public enquiry is still dragging on, and is not due to report till 2022. Throughout that time grieving friends and relatives will have no closure.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has consistently argued that the enquiry is being conducted back to front. While supposed operational failures were discussed in phase one (now completed) dealing with events on the night of the fire, the real causes of the catastrophe have been left till phase two. Grenfell Tower was fitted with cladding that actually turned the flats into a giant fire trap. The flammable cladding was cheaper, and that seems to have been the decisive factor in the ‘Royal’ Borough of Kensington and Chelsea selecting it. They ‘saved’ £293,000. That cost 72 lives.
On that night firefighters risked their lives to save others. Even the enquiry admitted that was the case. Later the firefighters on the scene gave their report to the enquiry. As Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, confirmed, “No firefighter sought immunity from prosecution during their evidence to the enquiry...They gave evidence honestly and unreservedly so that the community they serve could find the truth.”
It’s a pity that the building companies responsible for the tower refurbishment are not prepared to do the same. Cladding firm Harley Facades, contractor Rydon and Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (the council subcommittee in charge of the accommodation) are in effect demanding immunity from prosecution. They are demanding that nothing they say be used against them in a later court case. Otherwise they will just keep schtum and the enquiry will not be able to go ahead.
As Michael Mansfield, legal representative of the families, pointed out, “It is abhorrent to the interest of justice that those who are potential perpetrators of this inferno, who caused a loss of life -injury, loss of homes - dictate the terms on which they will provide their assistance...Were it to be granted, given the climate of denial and the buck-passing, the granting of an undertaking in this case would be tantamount to a licence to lie.”
Mansfield asked, do they “really want to put the families through more anguish?” To which the answer seems to be, they couldn’t care less as long as they hang on to their profits. FBU rep martin Seawards is also concerned that if the application is granted, “there will be different rules for witnesses in phase one and phase two.”
Enquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick has form. In a 2014 case against Westminster City Council his ruling on the ‘right’ of the council to make tenants homeless gave "the green light for social-cleansing of the poor on a mass scale."
Supporters’ group Grenfell United have every reason to suspect an establishment stitch up. This suspicion was strengthened when Benita Mehra was appointed to the phase two investigative panel. Mehra had links to Arconic, the firm that supplied the deadly panels. After a threat to boycott phase two, Mehra was forced to step down.
Moore-Bick has delayed the enquiry and is expected to give in to the blackmail of the offending firms and ask the attorney general to prevent “the use of evidence given by witnesses … against them in any future criminal proceedings.” Watch this space.
As the FBU has pointed out, the real responsibility for the disaster has been decades of profit-seeking deregulation. If you really want to know the cause of the Grenfell fire see their pamphlet:
https://www.fbu.org.uk/publication/grenfell-tower-fire-crime-caused-profit-and-deregulation
