ome have
criticised
him for
milking
political
advantage
by
blaming
the
Tories
and the
cuts for
the
Grenfell
catastrophe
— and
they
make a
reasonable
point.
At this
stage,
nobody
knows
exactly
who or
what
caused
the
disaster.
It is
far too
early to
point
blame.
Meanwhile,
Mr
Corbyn’s
demands
that the
empty
houses
of
wealthy
but
absent
foreigners
should
be made
available
to those
who’ve
lost
their
homes
this
week are
not only
playing
to the
crowd,
they are
half-witted.
They
also
have
chilling
overtones
of that
old
Left-wing
slogan
that all
property
is theft
and
should
therefore
become
the
possession
of the
State.
For all
that, Mr
Corbyn
has
found a
voice to
comfort
the
bereaved.
The
stilted
language
used by
Mrs May
when she
visited
Grenfell
just
after
the
disaster
recalls
the
awful
performance
of
William
Hague
following
the
death of
Diana.
A
spokesman
for Mrs
May put
her
failure
to meet
victims
down to
‘security
concerns’.
Yet the
arrival
of the
Queen
and
Prince
William
at the
scene
yesterday
put this
excuse
in
perspective.
It is
another
PR
disaster
for a
Prime
Minister
whose
position
is
already
under
grave
pressure.
However,
all is
not
lost.
Mrs May
is
better
placed
than she
may seem
to
respond
in a
statesmanlike
way to
the
Grenfell
disaster.
She
should
look to
her
early
speeches
as Prime
Minister,
when she
promised
to speak
up for
ordinary
hard-working
people.
She
promised
a
society
where we
all look
out for
each
other.
This has
to be
right.
Take the
case of
the
Royal
Borough
of
Kensington
and
Chelsea,
where
Grenfell
tower is
located.
This is
the most
affluent
borough
in
Britain,
home to
some of
Britain’s
wealthiest
inhabitants.
Yet the
Conservative
leaders
of this
borough
have
repeatedlyboasted
of how
low
council
taxes
are.
This may
be down
to
prudent
housekeeping
but
maybe
it’s
time
residents
started
to fork
out a
bit
more.
Very low
council
tax is a
bad
thing if
it means
that
safety
is
compromised
in
places
like the
Grenfell
estate.
However,
we
shouldn’t
think of
this as
merely a
Conservative
matter.
While it
may well
be the
case
that
Kensington
and
Cwere
sckingly
negligent,
Labour
councils
are
every
bit as
bad.
Grenfell
could
have
happened
in Tower
Hamlets
or
Newham
in East
London.
Inevitably,
one of
the
pressing
issues
that’s
emerged
this
week is
the
question
of
housing
provision
in this
country.
Thousands
of
people
still
live in
high-rise
blocks
which
may be
just as
unsafe
as
Grenfell.
It’s
clear
that we
urgently
need to
build
more
affordable
flats
and
houses,
not
least in
response
to the
rapid
population
rise
since
New
Labour
effectively
ended
border
controls
nearly
20 years
ago.
However,
building
homes
costs
money,
and —
with
Britain’s
dizzying
debt
rising
all the
time —
those
funds
are
going to
have to
come
from
somewhere.
That is
a
conundrum
for the
Prime
Minister,
but her
most
pressing
task is
to react
to this
disaster
by
acting
decisively
and in
the
interest
of the
nation
as a
whole.
Mrs May
was a
popular
figure
for a
reason
when she
became
Prime
Minister.
She’s an
ordinary
person
who is
emphatically
not part
of any
social
elite.
She’s
every
bit as
much a
fish out
of water
among
the
Notting
Hill Set
as
Jeremy
Corbyn
would
be. Yet
unlike
the
Labour
leader,
she
would
not
impose
swingeing
taxes on
the
wealthy
— who
can move
from
this
country
to any
that
they
want.
I
believe
Mrs May
is every
bit as
concerned
about
social
justice
as Mr
Corbyn —
which is
why, for
example,
she has
promised
to raise
the
minimum
wage
again.
She is a
true One
Nation
Conservative
in the
tradition
of
Disraeli
— which
is why
this
vicar’s
daughter
must
strive
to bring
together
the two
Britain's
that sit
cheek by
jowl in
West
London.
Though
her
early
response
was
awkward,
she has
done
exactly
the
right
thing by
calling
a
full-scale
public
inquiry,
and now
committing
£5
million
to help
victims.
She
simply
has to
show
that she
cares —
and then
act
accordingly
to stop
such a
tragedy
ever
happening
again.
The
febrile
crowds
on the
streets
of
Kensington
yesterday
had
worrying
echoes
of the
London
riots of
2011.
For that
reason,
and for
the sake
of those
poor
souls
who
perished
this
week,
Mrs May
must now
show
that she
can
unite
this
country.