One of Kemi Badenoch’s Tory leadership campaign funders is a councillor who had oversight of Grenfell Tower and dismissed some residents’ complaints about the pre-fire refurbishment as “grossly exaggerated”.
One survivor of the blaze that killed 72 people said he was “disgusted” that Quentin Marshall, a senior politician at the Conservative-controlled Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) which owned the block, has given £5,000 to the current shadow housing secretary to help her become the leader of the opposition.
Marshall chaired the council’s housing and property scrutiny committee from 2010 to 2016, during which time the cut-price refurbishment of the west London council tower block was planned and executed. His committee’s job included scrutinising all housing services, social housing regeneration, the tenants management organisation (which ran the block and its refurbishment) and fire safety measures, the public inquiry into the disaster heard.
After trust broke down between the landlord and residents during the controversial works which paved the way for the fire, Marshall’s committee “failed in its task of ensuring that the relationship … was rigorously investigated”, the inquiry concluded.
Concern about Marshall’s political donation also centres on the fact Badenoch has advocated a new wave of deregulation. As business secretary before Labour’s general election win, Badenoch announced initiatives to “slash red tape for businesses” and stressed her “intense dislike of burdensome, arcane and quite often needless regulation”.
The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire heard how a deregulation drive under David Cameron’s premiership contributed to fire regulations not being tightened in a way that might have reduced the risk of the disaster occurring. It found the so-called “bonfire of red tape” meant that “matters affecting the safety of life were ignored, delayed or disregarded” in the department responsible for building regulations.
“I am appalled that a councillor implicated in the Grenfell Tower tragedy with the loss of 72 lives would support a candidate that is promoting deregulation,” said Ed Daffarn, a 16th floor resident who tried to blow the whistle about serious problems before the June 2017 fire. “I worry that the Conservatives have learned nothing from Grenfell and are promoting policies that put profits before people and ignore the health and safety of residents as we saw at Grenfell with such devastating effects.”
Marshall’s donation emerged as Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, and Robert Jenrick, a former housing secretary, reached the final two in the Tory leadership contest. The results of a party membership ballot are due on 2 November. Badenoch is now the bookmakers’ favourite.
Other donors to her campaign include Neil Record, the former chair of the rightwing libertarian thinktank the Institute of Economic Affairs, which regularly calls for greater deregulation.
The public inquiry into the disaster also heard that in January 2016, Marshall’s committee was told the London fire brigade had concerns about self-closing devices on doors in RBKC council blocks, but it did not take steps to find out how these problems had arisen.
The inquiry found this “lack of curiosity surprising”. Six months later RBKC’s director of housing, Laura Johnson, assured the committee self-closers were fitted at all council blocks and the committee did not follow up to check. Less than a year later, missing fire door closers at Grenfell were a cause of smoke spread.
According to emails sent 15 months before the fire and disclosed to the inquiry, Marshall complained about “a very unpleasant campaign” against the council landlord body, described the amount the council was investing as amounting to “a gift from the state” and said “I’m therefore not massively sympathetic to general ‘it’s all terrible’ complaints.”
He said: “Mr Dafarn [sic] at committee made wild unsubstantiated claims which were not credible. I’m certain the works weren’t absolutely perfect and there will be things to learn and improve on (hence the review) but equally we need to take some of what has been said with a large pinch of salt.”
Under questioning at the inquiry in May 2021, Marshall admitted his committee “lacked a little humanity”. He said: “I would like to apologise to the people involved for that. I think we could have done better.”
A spokesperson for Marshall said his donation “reflects his support for Kemi Badenoch’s vision and policies”.
“Quentin has always been committed to public service and the safety and wellbeing of residents,” they said. “He respects the findings of the Grenfell Tower inquiry and remains deeply saddened by the tragedy. Mr Marshall continues to support efforts to ensure such an event never happens again and believes in the importance of robust regulatory frameworks to protect communities.”
Badenoch declined to comment. RBKC said: “Political donations are a matter for individual councillors.”
