Grenfell insulation firm Kingspan hired PR agency to lobby MPs after fire
A firm which manufactured flammable insulation used on Grenfell Tower worked with a public relations agency to lobby MPs in an attempt to convince them their product was safe in the weeks after the blaze that killed 72 people, an inquiry has heard.
Kingspan used Portland over the summer of 2017 to try to convince “key decision-makers” its combustible Kooltherm K15 was safe if properly installed.
The firm listed ideal targets on internal documents, including the then-home secretary, Amber Rudd, and then-housing secretary Sajid Javid, who went on to become chancellor under Boris Johnson.
Michael Gove, who still serves in the Cabinet, was also noted as a “key decision-maker” as the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs at the time.
Other MPs from across the House of Commons were also mentioned in the Kingspan Political Engagement Plan as people the business wanted to get in touch with.
The overview of the document said: “Some people will not want to meet you and they will not want to be lobbied. But there is still immeasurable value in getting Kingspan’s manifesto in front of these decisionmakers. We want them to read it.”
It said messages from the firm needed to be “punchy, memorable and easy to understand”.
The document was shown as Kingspan’s head of technical and marketing, Adrian Pargeter, gave his third day of evidence to the inquiry.
It continued: “There is still a lot of discussion to be had about approaching the public inquiry. We don’t know the inquiry’s terms of reference and we don’t know if Kingspan will be asked to give evidence.”
The terms of reference were laid out in August 2017, around six weeks after the fire, suggesting the Portland document was published at some point between mid-June 2017 and the end of the summer.
Earlier this week, the inquiry heard Kingspan had issues obtaining a class 0 “limited combustibility” rating for its K15 product, and only claimed it had attained the rating by partially testing the product.
Closing his evidence yesterday afternoon, Mr Pargeter said he “never thought a fire like [Grenfell] could happen in the UK”.
He also claimed Kingspan has “learnt some lessons” and is “trying to make improvements” following the blaze.
He said the company wants: “To try and ensure that we improve the way we control bringing new products to market and in the marketing of those products.”
Kooltherm K15 was the minority material used on the refurbished Grenfell Tower. Most of the insulation came from another firm, Celotex.
The inquiry continues.