Here is his letter to the Dame....some journalists are just driven to write click bait and ignore the truth.
This was an example of False News and the Hornet is glad to have the truth.
The Dame has highlighted his key points: not the Bishop.
Dear Dame,
I'm afraid this story has been misrepresented by a journalist. No decision was taken to exclude anyone, and there certainly is no veto on Conservative Councillors. As you'll notice when the journalist quotes me directly, in discussions with the local community it became clear that many from within that community were uncomfortable with the presence of representatives from RBKC, from whatever party, due to ongoing tensions with the Council. This situation was explained to senior members of RBKC (both Labour and Conservative) who voluntarily said they would choose not to attend, to respect the feelings of the local community. Exactly the same message was given to Conservative and Labour councillors regarding the negative community sentiment that had been expressed towards RBKC's attendance as a whole - irrespective of party. Councillors, both Conservative and Labour, were specifically told that no one was excluded and it was left with those councillors to make their own decisions regarding their attendance. If some have chosen to stay away and some have chosen to attend that service that is their decision not mine or anyone within the church.
I do hope you will feel able to correct any false impressions on your blog.
With very best wishes,
Graham
___________________________
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin
Excellent news, thats more like it! Thank you @The Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin
ReplyDeleteThe Council still has a problem. It came to the surface with Grenfell. But the problem is still there.
ReplyDeleteThe politicians need to start acting like representatives, understand their residents, and respond responsibly to situations.
For much too long, Hornton Street has been disconnected from reality and pandered to self seeking fripperies like Holland Park Opera. A rich Borough that has spent Council Tax in the most inappropriate ways and with completely the wrong priorities. The Tories take a big part of the responsibility for this but Labour has also failed lamentably as an opposition.
The whole apparatus in Hornton Street needs to be overhauled.
Well said @10:52
DeleteWhen the Dame gets it wrong, she puts it right. Nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteLong live the Dame
DeleteWe love the Dame!
DeleteThe Bishop is obviously in a very difficult position given the febrile atmosphere that has developed after years of incompetence, dishonesty, favouring property developers, and misrepresentation in Hornton Street and the TMO.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that the Bishop has put the record straight so that there can be no misunderstanding about the disgust felt by residents for ALL Councillors in the Royal Borough. Tory and Labour.
The Bishop did not speak to anyone in the Labour Party
ReplyDeleteI fear the Bish is either:
ReplyDelete1.Disingenuous
2. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments
3. Or a Labourite
He is quite wrong to say the ban affects ALL councillors: it doesn't it affects just
Conservative. So we see the Church of England in its true colours as now being the Labour Party at prayer. Fat lot of good it will do them. No one admits to being CofE ....far too dreary.
I hear some survivors are demanding two properties...this is getting out of hand.
ReplyDeleteThat is simply untrue. Many are demanding three. One for Mum and Dad and one each for two children.
DeleteI think some survivors should be given sports cars
ReplyDeleteor private jets so they can travel stress free
Delete19:53 22:44
DeleteWhat deeply unpleasant items you are. When something tragic happens someone you love - and it will - I sincerely hope you meet creatures like yourselves who will wound you deeply.
When that happens remember your own behaviour.
@20:30 Fret not. Life has a way of catching up with people i.e. they are not invincible. Be humble.
DeleteCan anyone attend the memorial at St Paul on Thursday? Or have they all given out all the tickets? If not, where can I find out about the detail please?
ReplyDeleteIt seems business as usual (how TMO treats tenants/victims) then.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn7xLJJxvZo
The message is crystal clear. After six months in Office, with all the considerable money, organisation and help available to her, Cllr Campbell has failed to make herself acceptable and trusted as far as residents in North Kensington are concerned.
ReplyDeleteThis is a failed politician, a Leader, and a failed person. She should go. If she does not go then she has to be pushed.
In the circumstances, I would chance it. Just before the service starts, in full view of the cameras and press, I would make an entrance. Dressed all in black. On crutches and with broken leg. And proceed very slowly up the aisle. Tears streaming down my face. I would look for a child and embrace them. It would have to be a black child. And then I would make a snap judgement - did I pull it off? In which case I would take a seat and stay for the service. Am still out in the cold? In which case I would make my way slowly back down the aisle.
ReplyDeleteThe silence would be deafening.
Need a stiff snifter for this one.
DeleteThis is pushing dizzy too far. This kind of risk taking is beyond her ability. She is unfortunately a square peg in a round hole. Can't alter that fact. Tories need to wake up and change the Leader. The promised Grenfell report in March next year would have been a heaven sent opportunity to dump her. But of course publication is now delayed to the end of 2018. (There is going to be a huge outcry about this delay. IT WAS PROMISED BEFORE EASTER 2018. Do these people never learn??????).
ReplyDeleteThe Tories need to get ruthless. They need to dump Lizzy now.
Very touching service at St Pauls. The PM, the Royals, and even Corbyn. One or two Councillors slipped in and tried not to be noticed but the absence of RBKC (Tory and Labour) WAS NOTICED because it was made clear that they were not wanted. This sent out a colossal national message.
ReplyDeleteEvents like this are an opportunity to make change. To acknowledge that change is needed. Essential in the Royal Borough. The Council should acknowledge the event, the circumstances, and do something dramatic. Make a fitting gesture.
Will we see more deaf ears?
Councillors Atkinson and Blakeman were invited to attend by Grenfell United and were there. The Bishop did not tell them not to attend. But they sat with their residents, not with the "dignatories" (and Cllr Thompson was there as a member of the clergy). And Cllr Dent Coad MP was there with Jeremy Corbyn.
ReplyDeleteJudith Blakeman has values that many of us would do well to emulate. She is not nasty or personal when she opposes those who disagree with her.
DeleteI have total sympathy for the Grenfell survivors and for anyone who has lost family or friends or been in any way affected by the fire. I fully appreciate that things are impossible when it comes to dealing with the Council and the TMO. It is well known that I have no time for the TMO and regard it as a miserable, incompetent and deficient housing management contractor.
ReplyDeleteI am not a Christian but am pleased to hear Bishop Tomlin say that no one was excluded from the service. I was very disappointed to hear Councillor Robert Atkinson say on BBC Radio London that Elizabeth Campbell had been asked not to attend and he thought that she had made the right decision; adding "she has work to do."
I was particularly struck by a point that the Bishop made during his address to those gathered at the service - we should all try to love each other- a truly Christian sentiment that we should all aspire to regardless of religious beliefs.
When I listened to the media comment about Elizabeth Campbell not being welcome at the service, I came to the conclusion that she was "unwelcome" just because she is the Tory Leader of RBKC. Declaring her unwelcome at an interfaith service says more about those who want her excluded than it does about anything she has or has not done.
I have twenty years ' experience working in social housing in London mainly for Labour Councils. I can assure anyone who is dissatisfied with the RBK&C response to this situation that the London Labour Councils in which I have worked would have done no better in the aftermath of Grenfell Tower.
Housing Organisations and Councils are only as good as the people who work in them. I can assure you that the calibre of Councillors and staff at RBK&C and the calibre of TMO workers is not all that different to any other local authority in London.
It was the decision of the Survivors and Bereaved families not to invite the RBKC Conservative councillors; nothing to do with the Bishop or the Labour Party. Theresa May was there with Sajid Javid but very low key.
ReplyDelete11.41 misunderstands me. I never said that the decision not to invite Elizabeth Campbell was anything to do with the Labour Party or the Bishop. However, I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment expressed by the Bishop in his letter to The Dame. What happened at Grenfell defies description. I can even understand on an emotional level why the survivors and bereaved relatives might want to do so but I sincerely believe that excluding someone just because of the role that they have taken on is misguided. I doubt very much that any Grenfell survivor or bereaved relative got any comfort making it clear that Elizabeth Campbell was unwelcome.
ReplyDelete