New Labour MP was on board of company that ‘ignored warnings’

THE new Labour MP for Kensington yesterday brushed off criticism that she sat on the board of the company accused of ignoring fire warnings over the doomed Grenfell Tower.

Former local councillor Emma Dent Coad – who took the well-heeled constituency from the Tories by just 20 votes last week – attacked the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, the body which runs social housing in the area for the council.

But critics pointed out that she herself previously sat on the board of the company. One asked her on Twitter: ‘How much did you pocket from KCTMO?’ The new MP, an architecture critic, replied: ‘Not a penny.’

Last night her spokesman confirmed she sat on the board as an opposition representative from 2008 to 2012, leaving some six months before the start of the refurbishment programme.

Speaking to the Guardian about the fire disaster, Miss Dent Coad, 62, who lives near the block, said yesterday: ‘I can’t help thinking that poor quality materials and construction standards may have played a part in this hideous and unforgivable event.’