By James Simons
Kensington Mp, Emma Dent Coad has objected to Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s appointment over the probe into the Greenfell fire, which killed least 80 people.
Coad has echoed the views of several surviving victims and families of the dead in opposing the suitability of the retired judge in handling the public inquiry. Her objections came after Bick expressed his plans to adopt a narrow investigation into the cause of the fire and how it spread.
The Kensington MP told the BBC’s Today program: “I have been talking to hundreds of people who have been affected.
“They need somebody they can talk to, somebody with a bit of a human face.ed the views of surviving victims and families of the dead in questioning the suitability of the former Mp’s judgement in narrowing the scope of the investigation into the fire. “I don’t think he should do it. I don’t think there will be any credibility.“Some people are saying they are not going to co-operate with it so it’s not going to work.” However, since the criticism voiced against the appointment of the retired judge, sources have now claimed that he is prepared to look at the broader causes of the fire. A source told the Press Association that ”he is very happy willing to look at why there were warnings that weren’t listened to”.
It is alarming that a retired judge was going to exclude the background issues that led to deaths. That in itself questions his suitability for the job and raises serious questions about his professional level of competence. Judges don’t always get it right, and this is a fact well known to the media and the public. Court files are full of dodgy sentences by relatively incompetent judges , who despite their academic qualifications sometimes lack the ideal level of judgement. The Greenfell fire case is too serious to be left to a judge who fails to show the level of sharpness required in a case where lives have been destroyed.
He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday that Sir Martin would have to work hard to maintain the confidence of victims. Labour Mp, David Lammy, also expressed pessimism about the appointment of the former commercial law judge, once accused of social cleansing of the poor. He said:
“He is a white, upper-middle class man who I suspect has never, ever visited a tower block housing estate and certainly hasn’t slept the night on the 20th floor of one,” he said.
“I hope he would do that in the days ahead. The job is not just to be independent and judicious – I am sure he is eminently legally qualified, of course he is – it is also to be empathetic and walk with these people on this journey.
“To sit with them and understand that their lives were in the hands of the state and something badly, badly failed.
“It is a shame we couldn’t find a woman to lead this inquiry or indeed an ethnic minority to lead the inquiry in 2017.
“I think the victims will also say to themselves: when push comes to shove, there are some powerful people here – contractors, sub-contractors, local authorities, governments – and they look like this judge. Whose side will he be on?
“He needs to get close to those victims and survivors very, very quickly and establish he is after the truth and he is fearless and independent and won’t be swayed because he is part of the establishment.”
Lammy’s instinctive thoughts will resonate with many of the surviving victims of the fire. Bick is already showing signs of a person leaning towards protecting the establishment and many of those guilty of high levels of recklessness. Claims that he is now prepared to look at broader causes of the fire does not imply that he will apply the rigorous level of assessment necessary to punish them for their behaviour. This is where the issue of doubt arises, and where the public needs full assurance.