#eric pickles

- Vince Cable

- William Hague

- Theresa May

- Iain Duncan Smith

- Eric Pickles

- Michael Gove

I said yesterday that those named by the Grenfell Inquiry as being in part responsible for the tragic and avoidable loss of life adopted one of two lines of defence, either passing the buck or remaining silent.

The Grenfell Inquiry told David Cameron that his enthusiasm for the Thatcherite ideology of deregulation had contributed to the 72 deaths. They asserted that his obsession with “cutting red tape" in the name of boosting the economy meant that:

“Even matters affecting the safety of life were ignored, delayed or disregarded.”

Such a damning indictment of Cameron’s leadership is hard to defend which is perhaps why he has remained silent. Silent up until this weekend that is.

On Friday evening  he came  out fighting and is adopting the second strategy of blaming others by denying he had anything to do with the scrapping fire safety regulations.

“The report is clear that fire safety and building safety regulations were explicitly excluded from the Coalition Government’s greatly-needed ‘red tape reviews’, given the importance we placed on safety and build quality.” (David Cameron: 04/09/24)

This claim that the Grenfell Inquiry, rather than condemning his actions as Prime Minister actually supported him has been greeted with disbelief.

“Grenfell survivors furious over David Cameron’s claim that the inquiry backed him over red-tape drive."  (The Guardian:08/09/24)

Using more colourful language one person accused Cameron of “total bullshit” for saying the inquiry agreed that fire regulations were excluded from his deregulation push. The failures that led to Grenfell were the direct result of changes to building regulations and his government critically weakened building regulations.

“It was Cameron’s government’s focus on deregulation that played a key part in people’s homes not being safe…His government wanted to ‘kill off the health and safety culture for good’ amid a ‘bonfire of red tape’, and this culture pervaded throughout government, including housing and building regulations, during his tenure as prime minister, whatever he may now wish to believe.” (Giles Grover quoted in Guardian:08/09/24)

So, David Cameron like Eric Pickles, despite the inquiry findings, are in denial, and if it wasn’t them then by definition it has to be someone else who is responsible for the Grenfell tragedy.

Eric Pickles Born: April 20, 1952, Keighley, United Kingdom Physique: Heavyset Build

Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, Kt, PC is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 to 2017. He served in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2015. Pickles is the UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust issues, being appointed in 2015. He stood down as an MP at the 2017 general election, but has continued in his role as Special Envoy under Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson. He is currently the chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel in the House of Lords.