The leader, Elizabeth Campbell, declined on the spurious grounds it was a 'personal decision' for each councillor-a predictably nonsensical rationale.
Why did she not simply relay the offer to all councillors?
The Dame is a contrary old thing so was disappointed to hear Michael Gove was barracked by certain people when he went to Value Engineering.
The barrackers thought they were being clever: they were not. Like or loathe Gove(the Dame is ambivalent) he braved what he would have known to be a hostile audience to educate himself.
What chance now to persuade councillors to educate themselves at Cameron's expense if they know the same treatment might be meted out to them?
This was a golden opportunity for audience members to engage with Gove post-performance...after all, Gove doesn't shrink from a debate.
A wasted moment in time!
Finally, Emma Dent Coad was highly involved with the TMO pre-Grenfell. Would she have been driven out?
A good point, Dame. Gove would have certainly have wanted to learn more
ReplyDeleteThe Grenfell survivors are raw with pain and loathing and they hit out indiscriminately at the Tory enemy. This is understandable. But behind the booing to Mr Grove I am sure that many in the audience would have taken quiet satisfaction from the fact that he bothered to show up and take interest
DeleteI saw the first night of Value Engineering - a brilliant play by Director Nic Kent at the Tabernacle. It was about the organisations and their shortcomings around the Grenfell fire tragedy, with dialogue based on evidence to the Grenfell Inquiry. At the end of the evening it struck me with huge force that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Leader of the Council to take all Conservative Councillors to see the play and gain some insights into the world outside Hornton Street. I wrote to Cllr Campbell and offered to pay for 29 tickets so that all Conservative councillors could attend.
ReplyDeleteThe play ended on Saturday after a six week run. And to rave reviews. I am still waiting for a response to my offer from Councillor Campbell .
Until attitudes and the Leadership style in Hornton Street change we will continue to have "more of the same". Rank and file Conservatives in RBKC should be deeply troubled.
Justice4Grenfell needs to bring a private prosecution against the Council. The families of COVID victims are showing the way with private prosecutions that started last month.
DeleteRBKC is playing a long game and spending a huge amount of Council Tax on lawyers to kick the Grenfell Report and its findings into the long grass. The establishment is running rings around the Grenfell underclass.
The closing statement from RBKC to the Grenfell Inquiry is fifty pages of expensive lawyers talking to expensive lawyers. The core of the RBKC argument is that "it was not our fault, all due to the TMO"
DeleteBut is the TMO not a creature of the Council with oversight by the Council????
Grenfell activists need to be ruthless and belligerent and stop these games being played in our society.
Good for Michael Gove. He is resident of RBKC and has balls. He understood well that Value Engineering was a local event about an important local topic where he needed to show his face.
ReplyDeleteDear Dame,
ReplyDeleteDid MP Felicity Buchan attend?
Resident
More to the point, did EDC attend?
DeleteJustice4Grenfell has a very clear opinion of Emma Dent Coad. She is a waste of time. Had her chance in Parliament, made no difference. Useless as the Tories
DeleteThe idiots who rudely drove out Gove are the true haters of democracy
ReplyDeleteLike Mr Gove I am also a resident of Kensington and went to see the play. Mr Cameron was right to highlight the opportunity for training, for Councillors to get a different perspective on the world that they have chosen to serve.
ReplyDeleteTwo things that came across to me in the play were that the TMO was under pressure from RBKC to cut costs and an underfunded and under staffed Surveyors Department in the TMO greatly contributed to the scale of the disaster because the required checks and balances were not in place. In a rats nest of competitive bidding, handshakes, private understandings and tip offs to friends.
In the circumstances, in my business, the play could have been a godsend opportunity for Councillors to follow up with a workshop and discuss such things as why was the TMO Surveyors Department underfunded while the Council was giving ca £20 million of subsidy to Holland Park Opera and overspending at least £50 million on the new Holland Park School? Why were activist Grenfell residents who predicted the disaster for at least ten years routinely ridiculed and ignored by the Council?
The opportunity here was to discuss "balance" in the Council, and values, in order to improve the performance of the organisation. With all powerful internally generated change.
And what a missed political opportunity! For the Leader, showing humility and humanity, to take her team to the Tabernacle in North Kensington. To be seen and to LISTEN
I offered to buy tickets for Councillors to see the play on 14th October. Now it is 14th November, and the play closed yesterday.
DeleteA week after I wrote to Cllr Campbell I was busy calling the Town Hall switchboard to try and get some information about my offer. I had not even received an acknowledgement to my email. I was told that it is not allowed to put calls through to the Leaders Office.
This is a powerful exposure of the culture in Hornton Street.
thats right. you only allowed to send email which is always ignored
Delete"We agreed to listen but not to hear"
ReplyDeleteClle Weale
Cabinet Member for Finance
Three members of the collectivised Cabinet decision making process at the time of the tragedy are still in charge. They are Campbell, Weale and the feckless and dim Faulks. They really should be 'considering their positions'!
ReplyDeleteThis blog makes terrible reading. Unfortunately the story of Grenfell, and the entrenched attitudes of Council, is not unique. 60 years of monopoly Tory rule have brought RBKC to this. A remote and elite bunch of Councillors.
ReplyDeleteWhat the Borough needs is an elected Mayor.