Council emails expose lack of leadership after Grenfell tragedy

♦ The chaos seen in the wake of Grenfell Tower was laid bare in a cache of council emails asking “who is in charge?” and labelling the fallout a “complete media s---storm”.

The emails from Kensington and Chelsea council were obtained by Channel 4 News and show how the authority struggled to get a handle on the crisis in the days following the fire.

One email highlighted how communication with survivors of the disaster was failing and was simply titled “Who is in charge?”.

Another was sent to Nick Pagetbrown, the leader of the council at the time, stating that: “The expectation that they [‘the community’] will know how to find help in comparison to the type of people we are trying to help is the real gulf. There are language problems, lack of education and understanding how anything works.”

The communication also stated that the local communities were separated and acted in a similar way to gangs.

Within the messages seen, Mr Pagetbrown complained about a “complete media s---storm” and scorned journalists for asking questions. The leader, who resigned in the wake of the fire, also said the media “comprehensively trashed” the council’s efforts.