PRIME MINISTER GRILLED ON REACTION
THERESA May has sidestepped questions over her response to the Grenfell Tower disaster, after facing criticism of her reaction to the tragedy.
The Prime Minister met a group of victims, residents, volunteers and community leaders at a church close to the scene of the horrific blaze, and earlier visited survivors in hospital.
But the visits, which took place more than 48 hours after the devastating fire broke out, have done little to quell the growing anger over the way Mrs May has dealt with the tragedy.
As she left St Clement’s Church following a visit lasting less than an hour, the PM faced cries of “Coward” and “Shame on you”.
One woman wept, saying it was because Mrs May had declined to speak to anyone outside the meeting.
In a television interview, Mrs May said the fire was “absolutely horrifying” and had been a “terrifying experience” for those affected.
But she sidestepped questions over whether she had failed to judge the public mood.
Told there was a need for the public to hear her say something had gone badly wrong and the Government accepted responsibility, Mrs May said: “Something terrible has happened. This is an absolutely awful fire that took place. People have lost their lives, people have had their homes destroyed, they have fled for their lives with absolutely nothing.”
Asked if she had misread the public anger, she replied: “What I have done since this incident took place is, first of all, yesterday ensure that the public services had the support they need in order to be able to do the job they were doing in the immediate aftermath.”
Pressed again on whether she had failed to understand the anger felt by the public, she said: “This was a terrible tragedy that took place. People have lost their lives and others have lost everything, all their possessions, their home and everything.
“What we are doing is putting in place the support that will help them.
“But it is a terrible tragedy. I have heard horrifying stories from the fire brigade, from police and from victims themselves who were in that tower but also from other local residents, some of whom of course have not been able to go back to their homes either.
“What I’m now absolutely focused on is ensuring that we get that support on the ground.
“Government is making money available. We are ensuring we are going to get to the bottom of what happened, we will ensure that people are rehoused.”
Mrs May said the public inquiry into the fire will take place “as soon as possible” and insisted the Government had acted on previous warnings about tower block safety by a coroner.
Asked how residents in other high-rise blocks would be able to sleep at night, Mrs May said: “The Government is doing everything in its power to ensure that people are safe. We have identified those buildings and now and over the weekend people are going in and inspecting those buildings.”
Local people have contrasted the style of Mrs May’s private visit with those of London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was seen with his arm round the shoulders of people affected by the disaster.
Also on Friday, the Queen and the Duke of Cambridge met volunteers, local residents and community representatives while visiting Westway Sports Centre, near the charred remains of the tower block in north Kensington.
Conservative former cabinet minister Michael Portillo said Mrs May should have been prepared to face residents’ anger.
He told BBC: “She should have been there with the residents. She wanted an entirely controlled situation in which she didn’t use her humanity.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Grenfell Tower protesters staged an impromptu march on Whitehall last night, angry with the response from the Government following Wednesday’s disaster.
The group brought the heart of London to a standstill as they tried to march from the Home Office headquarters to Downing Street.
The crowd, shouting “May must go”, “Justice for Grenfell” and “Blood on your hands”, were met with a cordon of police officers as they marched up Horseguards Parade, coming to a stop outside the entrance to Downing Street.