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Kensington MP calls for apology over rival’s ‘libellous’ Grenfell cladding claim
The Labour candidate for Kensington has warned her Liberal Democrat rival that she would considering suing if he doesn’t apologise for a claim that she was involved in discussions about cladding Grenfell Tower.
Emma Dent Coad is defending a slim majority in the west London constituency she won from the Conservatives in 2017, less than a week before the Grenfell Tower fire.
The race has been complicated by the entry of Liberal Democrat Sam Gyimah, who was a Conservative minister before defecting in protest over Brexit.
Earlier this week, he told the Independent that Ms Dent Coad “was on the council and was part of all the discussions that went on in terms of the cladding” when discussing the fire.
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Ms Dent Coad was an opposition Labour councillor in the borough for 11 years and served as a non-executive board member on the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) between 2008 and 2012.
However, as an opposition councillor she was not involved in decisions regarding the refurbishment and had left the KCTMO board two years before discussions about the cladding took place.
She told Inside Housing: “This isn’t some amusing political game. Years of bad decision-making and lack of any genuine care led to 72 of my neighbours – including friends – losing their lives in the most horrific circumstances as we watched helplessly.
“How dare he ‘game’ this huge, horrifying and entirely preventable loss of life for political gain? I am absolutely gutted and sickened by his behaviour.”
It is understood Ms Dent Coad has asked for an apology and will consider legal action for libel if she does not receive one.
She has written a detailed rebuttal to the accusation, which is published below, and says she received death threats when similar accusations were levelled by the former Conservative MP for the area.
Mr Gyimah had been asked about the Grenfell Tower fire by the Independent and the involvement of deregulation and austerity pursued by the coalition government in creating the conditions for the fire.
He said the fire should be “above party politics” and shouldn’t be dragged into “the culture war that is happening”.
He added: “If you look at the phase one report [of the official inquiry into the disaster], which is a very bleak assessment, there are many things that went wrong. By the way, Emma Dent Coad was on the council and was part of all the discussions that went on in terms of the cladding.”
Mr Gyimah’s office was contacted for comment.
Emma Dent Coad’s rebuttal in full
“My usual response to trolling on social media is ‘one factual rebuttal and walk away’. However, the false accusations linking me to the decision on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower has returned once again. A good friend of mine was once physically attacked for defending me on this.
So here are some checkable facts which I hope will end this libel.
I joined the Board of the TMO in June 2008 and left in October 2012. Here is a link to the board of directors, also showing which councillors were on it and when. [Current] council leader Elizabeth Campbell was on the board at the same time as me.
During my tenure there had been numerous complaints from residents about the condition of Grenfell Tower: broken lifts, draughty windows, poor insulation, and the heating and hot water system regularly breaking down.
In October 2012 (around the time I left the TMO) the then cabinet member Cllr Tim Coleridge announced that a major refurbishment would be undertaken. Residents were pleased. At the time the proposed contractor was Leadbitter. The scope of the work was agreed at the time, but the detail was to come. A press release announcing this is available here.
In April 2013 responsibility for the project was handed over to the new Cabinet Member, Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen.
It was not until January 2014 that the planning application was agreed (search for Grenfell Tower via this link).
In April 2014 it was announced by the council and TMO that due to costs the contract had been awarded to Rydon rather than Leadbitter who had scoped the work. Note that this was AFTER the planning application was granted approval.
Throughout the summer amendments were made and detailed specifications decided. Cladding materials proposed at 1 July 2014 are here.
There were several amendments during this period. Often the details of these are done by ‘delegated decision’, which means the final details and choice of materials is decided by officers and not the planning committee.
Then on 30 September 2014 ‘Condition 3’ was agreed by delegated decision; this related to the final choice of cladding.
Who made those decisions, advised by whom, and why, should be thoroughly scrutinised by the agencies tasked with the job of investigating these matters and allocating accountability, responsibility, blame and – we hope ultimately – guilt.
To be clear, I was on the board when the principle of refurbishing Grenfell Tower was discussed, but I was nowhere near the decision-making process for the detailed specifications for refurbishing Grenfell which started when I left. Board members agreed the contract but do not specify cladding or indeed any other technical details. Neither should they.
However Kensington’s ex-Tory MP, Victoria Borwick, said I shared “collective responsibility” for the work in June 2017.
In the following weeks I received countless death threats. As you can see clearly from the dates when decisions were made above, the accusation is incorrect.
Now Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate Sam Gyimah has repeated this very dangerous fiction. He has been asked to apologise for his mistake. At the time of writing he has not apologised.”
