It is tempting to think that politics stops today. That the publication of the final report by the Grenfell Inquiry demands a cessation of partisan hostilities. That the House of Commons is, in that tedious cliché, "at its best" when it is united. But this would be wrong.
Politics is why construction firms got away with cladding buildings with dangerously flammable materials. Politics is why residents' warnings of an impending disaster were ignored. Politics is why government ministers prioritised deregulation over safety controls. Politics is, ultimately, why 72 people died when a fire engulfed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017.
I'd encourage you to read the report's executive summary here. But this is the headline:
"We conclude that the fire at Grenfell Tower was the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them."
Politics is also, by the way, why more than seven years on from this disaster, it could happen again. Sky News reports that at least 3,280 buildings are known to have unsafe cladding, with fewer than a third of those having started works. The Standard's Katie Strick has spoken with residents still trapped in some of London’s 1,300 cladded buildings. It's one of those pieces you have to read but one quote stood out to me: “Every night we continue to put our children to bed in these unsafe buildings".
The Metropolitan Police has promised to analyse the Inquiry's report line-by-line, with a team of 200 officers to pursue criminal prosecutions against those responsible. However, due to the "sheer volume of evidence and complexity of the investigation", the Crown Prosecution has warned that criminal prosecutions are not expected for another two years.
I think at this point the most useful thing I can do I direct you to some of the journalism across today's paper. For example, our courts correspondent Tristan Kirk and political editor, Nic Cecil, have compiled 12 key findings from the report, including some of the companies, people and organisations the Inquiry says are to blame. Crime reporter John Dunne has put together a timeline and key dates from the last seven years. While today's leader column calls for the report to act not as a full stop, but a catalyst for justice.
My main reflection – beyond the sheer horror if it all – is just how widely this report apportions blame. Grenfell was not one failure but hundreds. It didn't happen overnight but across decades. From the manufacturers of cladding materials, which were "by far the largest contributor" to the fire and who engaged in "systemic dishonesty", to central government, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Fire Brigade.
Politics fanned the flames of this disaster. But it is also the only way to ensure it never happens again.
