MAY: I’VE LET DOWN THE FIRE FAMILIES

Beleaguered PM’s ‘ mea culpa’ after disastrous response to tower block tragedy... as she faces Cabinet split over Brexit

THERESA May was fighting for her political life on two fronts last night as she apologised for her response to the Grenfell Tower fire while facing an MPs’ rebellion over Brexit. After days of mounting criticism over

her handling of the fatal blaze, Mrs May admitted that the response to families needing support ‘was not good enough’.

Her statement was billed by a No 10 source as a ‘mea culpa’. But her critics described it as a ‘belated act of contrition’ which was itself ‘not good enough’.

The apology came as Mrs May met survivors of Grenfell Tower in Downing Street – her third attempt in as many days to assuage public anger over the tragedy, which has so far claimed at least 58 lives.

While she was meeting the victims, hundreds of protesters gathered i n Whitehall chanting for her to resign.

Her statement of regret did little to stem growing unrest on the Tory backbenches over Mrs May’s authority, following her disastrous decision to call a snap Election that led to the loss of her Commons majority.

Brexit-supporting MPs say they fear Mrs May’s political weakness is allowing Chancellor Philip Hammond to swing the Government’s position round to a ‘soft’ Brexit in which the UK would remain in the customs union.

However, a Survation poll for this newspaper found that more than two thirds of voters – 69 per cent – support Mr Ham mond’ s soft Brexit approach. There is also strong opposition to Mrs May’s declaration that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, with 65 per cent calling for the UK to leave the EU with some form of agreement in place. And there is now a majority in favour of holding a second referendum to approve the Brexit deal.

The machinations on the backbenches are being fed by the Cabinet split between the Remainers, headed by Mr Hammond and Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and the Brexiteers, led by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

Yesterday, former Brexit Minister David Jones, speaking just hours before the start of our negotiations to leave the EU, warned Mrs May that to pursue a ‘soft’ Brexit would be a ‘betrayal’ of the nation. And another Brexit- backing MP said plans were being hatched to send the required 48 letters of no confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee to trigger a leadership contest, which they hoped would lead to a coronation for Mr Johnson.

The rebellion is also being driven by MPs who have been dismayed by t he negative response to Mrs May they have picked up in their constituencies over the weekend – in particular over her handling of Grenfell Tower.

Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the cutprice cladding blamed for accelerating the inferno was installed despite warnings that it was too dangerous for tall buildings.

Mrs May’s response to the tragedy was in stark contrast to that of the Queen, who yesterday issued a message acknowledging the ‘very sombre national mood’. She also appeared close to tears as she spoke to survivors about their ordeal on Friday morning.

In comparison, the Prime Minister made three attempts to show that she cared about victims of the tragedy before yesterday’s statement.

She first went to the scene of the fire on Thursday morning, but spoke only to members of the emergency services.

On Friday she had to run a gauntlet of protesters as she fled a meeting with survivors.

And later that night, she gave a disastrous interview to BBC2’s flagship Newsnight programme, in which she was accused of appearing ‘ inhuman’ by repeatedly avoiding questions about whether she had misread the public mood.

In yesterday’s statement, issued after the two-and-a-halfhour meeting, Mrs May said she had heard the concerns of those affected by the fire and agreed they had been let down. She said: ‘The response of the emergency services, NHS and the community has been heroic. But, frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough.’

A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he welcomed the fact that ‘ the Prime Minister is finally facing up to her responsibilities after the terrible fire. The Government needs to listen to the voices of residents and give them the support they deserve.’

Sir Craig Oliver, who was David Cameron’s communications director, claimed yesterday that Downing Street had been ‘ hollowed out’ and so there was no one to tell Mrs May that she risked looking like she lacked ‘grip or empathy if she didn’t meet victims’.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘Theresa May is acting l i ke a hopeless bystander rather than Prime Minister. We are several days on, and her belated act of contrition is not enough.

‘Despite the heroic work of the emergency services, support for survivors has been a shambles. This is a national disaster – yet the Prime Minister has largely left the response to the council and charities.’

But Cabinet Office Minister Damian Green, Mrs May’s new No 2, sprang to the PM’s defence saying she was as ‘distraught as anyone’ over the tragedy and said t hat criticism of her response was ‘terribly unfair’.

Plans being hatched for leadership fight ‘PM is acting like a hopeless bystander’

UNFORESEEN events have utterly transformed the political weather. First came the Election result. Then came the abiding, endlessly painful tragedy of Grenfell Tower, whose impact grows rather than diminishes as the days go by.

There is a dangerous impatience with authority at large, which, if mishandled, could do serious damage to confidence in government itself.

For the Prime Minister, these things have meant nothing but woe. Let us not judge Theresa May too harshly. There is nothing wrong with being a reserved person who does not readily show her deepest feelings in public. The demonstrations against her were shocking, unjust and misplaced.

But her BBC Newsnight interview revealed once again that, when under pressure, she finds it very hard to cope. Presumably it was her own decision to face such questioning. Yet she gave wooden, defensive answers, resorting to bureaucratic formulas. Even her ‘mea culpa’ last night acknowledged only failures by others, rather than accepting she had herself not done enough.

At the moment, her Government looks like a punctured tyre, flat and immobilised. Someone has to reflate it, and soon. A week ago, many in her party and in the country were ready to rally round her for the sake of stability and continuity.

Tories particularly feared to start an avalanche which might lead to a new General Election in which they might do worse than last time. But if Mrs May cannot provide these things, there will be growing pressure for her to be replaced, with all the risks that entails.

The mood has not only turned against her in general. The Mail on Sunday’s latest Survation poll, conducted by the research organisation which correctly warned of a close Election result two weeks ago, now shows a significant shift in national feeling against a hard Brexit.

Last summer’s blithe, confident belief that we could free ourselves from the EU in a single joyous leap has turned to caution. Many more are prepared to consider ways of keeping trading links with the EU, through the customs union or t he si ngle market, perhaps t he so-called ‘Norway option’.

Mrs May’s swaggering claim that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ is also far from popular. As we now know, more cautious opinions are also the views of the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, and of many others in the Cabinet.

In this crucial week, as talks with the EU get under way, the Prime Minister needs to recall her contrite post-Election promises to listen more, and to pay greater attention to her colleagues. This will entail rather more than a mere change in attitude. A major rethink of her approach to policy and presentation is required.

This will not solve all her problems. Flexibility on Brexit will lead to opposition from the usual hardliners. But it may soon dawn on them, too, that the Election has stripped them of much of the strength they previously had.

Rigid adherence to pre-arranged positions, slogans and tactics is the very thing that has got the PM into so much trouble. Now is the time for suppleness, subtlety and a readiness to both listen to the national mood, and draw new strength from it.