The politics of hatred will never win justice for Grenfell

No one, apart from the survivors, will ever truly be able to comprehend the horror and heartbreak the Grenfell residents endured on the night their tower block was engulfed in flames.

It was a tragedy of unbearable proportions. For those who escaped the inferno, there is unimaginable pain, loss, grief and anger.

Their emotions boiled over this week at a meeting of the residents with Kensington and Chelsea Council, where the newly elected council leader elizabeth Campbell was abused as she tried to apologise on the local authority’s behalf.

‘no ifs, no buts, no excuses,’ she said. ‘I am deeply sorry we did not do more to help you when you needed it most.’

She couldn’t have been more reasonable or compassionate, but her words could hardly be heard above the shouts accusing the council of being ‘murderers’.

Mahad egal, a father of two who escaped from the fourth floor, said: ‘You have murdered us.’ Another survivor, Sajad Jamalvatan, 22, said: ‘You killed us, you helped the fire.’

Yes, their fury is understandable. But I fear there is a real danger that, in their distress, survivors could, by making such accusations, lose public sympathy. BuT

while the behaviour of the residents may be forgivable, that of some politicians is not. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s grotesque claim at Glastonbury that Grenfell’s victims had been ‘murdered by political decisions’ was simply beyond the pale.

Murder is killing with intent and, whatever the failings of the council, the building trade and central government, it is utterly wrong to say the victims were deliberately killed.

And it’s not just politicians. The whole of the coverage on the BBC and Channel 4 news has been irresponsibly based on the assumption that council cuts and Tory austerity helped cause the fire.

Yet the disaster could have happened at any number of tower blocks in Labour areas with the same inflammable cladding as Grenfell or which were refurbished years ago under a Labour government. There has been appalling incompetence.

LAST Sunday we were glued to our TVs watching Federer crush Cilic in the Wimbledon final. Tomorrow’s unmissable sporting event, according to non-stop plugs on the BBC, is the World Cup Final between the England women’s cricket team and India at Lord’s. Sadly I will miss it . . . I’ll be watching my nail polish dry.

But the truth now is that everyone — the council, the Government, local volunteers — is trying to do their best in the face of such a tragic event.

A public inquiry headed by a judge of integrity has been established and could lead to manslaughter charges. The Government is trying to rehouse families and has made at least 169 offers of temporary accommodation, though only 32 have been accepted so far.

It’s five agonising weeks since the disaster, and emotions are still raw. Yet those who cry ‘murder’ and ‘racism’ besmirch the reputation of the judge and take up the rhetoric of the Corbynista hate-mobs are not helping the survivors of Grenfell.

Huge public sympathy is with them. How terrible it would be to squander that goodwill by adopting the politics of hatred and opportunism.