Victims ‘failed by villains’

Tory peer says flats tragedy was a shameful episode for the state and ‘bad guys remain hidden’

THE victims of the Grenfell Tower fire were failed by “villains” during a shameful episode for the state, a top Tory peer has declared.

Lord Porter, chairman of councils’ body the Local Government Association, warned that the “bad guys” could spend years hidden from the public eye.

Interviewed by the Mirror to mark the anniversary of the disaster that killed 72 people, he said: “This is not the state’s finest moment. This is the worst issue I’ve experienced in all of my time of having anything to do with either local or national government.”

Lord Porter, a district councillor for nearly 20 years, added: “There are some real heroes in this, people who’ve really busted a gut to get it to a good place, and there are some other people who’ve treated it as just another exercise. I don’t intend to list the heroes or the villains.”

Asked who he was talking about – Government, councils, regulators or someone else – he said: “The biggest failing has been on the part of the people who most will never know their names until somebody rewrites the history.”

Asked what should happen to those people, he went on: “I’m sure the coroner’s report will deal with the worst of the real villains. My real concern isn’t about putting the blame on an individual