Grenfell, COVID and Infected Blood families ‘have no faith’ inquiry recommendations will be properly carried out

Published

3 months ago

June 14, 2024

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A ‘silent walk’ will take place in West London today to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Grenfell Tower disaster that claimed 72 lives.

Phase one of the public inquiry into the fire ended five years ago, yet campaigners claim not all of its recommendations have been implemented.

Now they have joined forces with families of infected blood victims and COVID campaigners in calling for oversight over inquiry recommendations, saying they have “no faith” the current system will see real change.

Despite costing hundreds of millions of pounds, public inquiry recommendations do not have to be followed, and there is no formal oversight to check they are being properly met once the process is over.

Campaign groups Grenfell United, COVID-19 Bereaved and Factor 8 say this risks their tragedies being repeated.

‘Nothing’s really happened to change things’

Lobby Akinnola and Jason Evans both lost their dads in the midst of a national tragedy. Lobby’s father Femi died in April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic; while Jason’s dad Jonathan died three decades earlier, after contracting Hep C and HIV as a result of the infected blood scandal.

Lobby was in his 20s when his dad died, while Jason was just four years old. But both agree that the worst part isn’t the loss, it’s “all the time later you don’t get to have with your loved one”.

Both have come to a meeting with Edward Daffarn, a survivor of the Grenfell fire.

All three of them are at various stages of the lengthy public inquiry process.

The Infected Blood Inquiry reported back last month, finding the scandal was “not an accident”.

Phase Two of the Grenfell Inquiry is due in September, and COVID is years away from finishing.

By the end, all three Inquiries will have produced a raft of recommendations – designed to prevent history from being repeated. But none of the men in this room have confidence they will be followed properly.

Grenfell United, COVID-19 Bereaved and Factor 8 now support calls for a ‘National Oversight Mechanism’, which would scrutinise and analyse the work done after inquests, government-commissioned reviews and public inquiries.

‘Structural solution’ needed

They accept that not every recommendation will be able to be implemented, but say a mechanism would provide independent oversight and answers why.

Without it, they fear, lessons won’t be learnt, and future lives not saved.

It would also, they agree, take the pressure off all three of their shoulders. Jason says the relief he felt at the receiving their report was short lived: “You have to fight just to get the inquiry. You have to fight to have the questions put to the witnesses. Of course, you’re then going to have to fight for the recommendations, especially if they cost money.

“That’s just very sadly a part of trying to get some sense of justice in this country.”

Lobby is adamant there needs to be a “structural solution”. Otherwise, “in another 30 years there will be another three people around the same table talking about the same issues and I don’t think we can do that anymore”.

Edward says the Grenfell Community have seen first hand what happens when inquiries or inquests are not followed: “There was a fire at Lakenal House in 2009 that killed six people, after which the Coroner’s report made recommendations about the danger of fire-spread.

“The government was fully aware of those recommendations but chose not to act on them.

“And then in 2017, we had a fire that killed 72 people.”

‘It’s all about safeguarding future lives’

Phase One of the inquiry heard how, if those recommendations had been met, Grenfell might have been prevented.

Just as concerning, Edward says, is the fact that recommendations from that initial phase haven’t been met yet.

The chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick recommended that all disabled people living in high-rise blocks get personal evacuation plans, but in 2022 the Home Office rejected the idea, citing “practicality”, “proportionality” and “safety”.

Adam Gabsi, who has MS, took the government to court over that decision, and lost: “I am a wheelchair user. I live on the sixth floor. In 2022 neither lift in my building worked for 64 days.

“In 2023, neither lift in my building worked for 42 days. So I have first-hand experience of how dangerous that could be.

“My building is currently surrounded in the similar cladding as Grenfell. They are removing it. Of course being trapped in the flat was extremely dangerous and having an evacuation plan is paramount. It’s essential, it’s integral.”

The calls for a National Oversight Mechanism were first launched a year ago by the charity Inquest.

Executive director Deborah Coles told Sky News it’s all about safeguarding future lives, and making sure the burden for pushing change forwards doesn’t rely on families: “At the moment this accountability gap which exists means recommendations about public health and safety can simply disappear into the ether, and that really does undermine trust and confidence in these legal processes.”

The Home Office have previously said work continues on their recommendations, and they’re committed to making sure a tragedy like Grenfell never happens again.

UK

Mohamed al Fayed ‘carried Viagra’ and ‘cherry picked’ women from Harrods shop floor, ex-employee claims

Published

12 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Mohamed al Fayed 'carried Viagra' and 'cherry picked' women from Harrods shop floor, ex-employee claims

A former member of the Harrods management team has told how Mohamed al Fayed would “cherry pick” women from the shop floor.

Speaking to Sky News anonymously, the woman described the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, as “demonic” and said he “controlled everything with fear”.

Lawyers representing 37 alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Fayed branded him a “monster” who was “enabled by a system that pervaded Harrods” at a news conference on Friday.

The former employee of the luxury department store, which the Egyptian businessman took control of in 1985, worked at Harrods at the height of his power.

“We were all told Harrods is the greatest place on Earth – but he controlled everything with fear,” she said.

“The power dynamic was so strong, in the blink of an eye you would lose your career and they would try and destroy you. It was this dark psychological trap and everybody was caught.”

She said she heard stories Fayed, known to staff as “the chairman”, would grope people although she was never a victim herself.

“The chairman would walk around the store and he would cherry pick people from the shop floor, if you had blond hair and brown eyes you were favoured,” she said.

“He used to say, ‘I want that one up in my office now’. He used to carry Viagra around in his pocket, and people were so scared of his ‘floor walks’ – if you weren’t smiling enough you were in the shit, if you smiled too much you were also in the shit.”

The ex-employee, who worked at Harrods in her first job after leaving university, said when women were called to Fayed’s office they “couldn’t say no”.

“I would sit her down and I would say I need to let you know what you are walking into,” she said.

“It’s suddenly a pay rise, and you’ll be invited to expensive events and lavished with expensive gifts but really you need to be aware of something.

“I said you will get invited to Park Lane, and parties where there will be lots of rich men, and you would be invited to sleep with people.”

She said she was once asked to see Fayed in his lounge-like office where he was wearing his slippers and said: “When are you going to come up and work for me here?”

The woman said she told him she did not want to work there and went back to her normal job.

“Afterwards he would smile at me and was courteous but then I started getting extra money in my pay packet. I went to the pay office and they said it’s a bonus for what you are doing. It didn’t last long but it happened just after he’d asked to meet him.”

The woman said she now feels “really conflicted” as she was “vulnerable too”.

“It was my first job leaving university. It leaves me feeling angry that we put up with things in that generation, that was our norm,” she added.

Harrods has said in a statement it is “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.

The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.

UK

Katherine Watson: Body found in search for missing TV chaplain

Published

12 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Katherine Watson: Body found in search for missing TV chaplain

A body has been found in the search for a missing hospital chaplain who starred in a Channel 4 documentary.

Katherine Watson, 50, was last seen in the Heaton Road area of Newcastle, at about 1pm on Thursday and Northumbria Police had become “increasingly concerned” for her welfare.

But after “extensive searches”, the force said a body had been found in the Jesmond Dene area of the city. Although formal identification has yet to take place, “it is believed to be Katherine”, they added.

“Her next of kin have been made aware and are being supported by specially-trained officers,” it said.

“This is an incredibly sad outcome and our thoughts are with Katherine’s loved ones at this difficult time. We will continue to support them in any way we can and we ask that their privacy is respected.”

Also known as Reverend Captain Katie Watson, she joined the army in her late teens, serving in Bosnia in the 1990s and as part of the Royal Military Police.

“Once you have seen genocide first-hand on the streets of a European country, there is nothing left in the world that can faze you after that,” she told the Church Times in 2022, as the Geordie Hospital documentary was first aired on Channel 4.

“I have seen the worst of humanity and I have seen, and continue to see, the very best of it.”

Ms Watson worked at the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for more than 16 years and was made head of chaplaincy in 2020.

Channel 4’s documentary Geordie Hospital was a six-part series that filmed hospital staff through a shift, featuring a cast including porters, surgeons, dental nurses and chaplains.

Speaking about her role in the show, Ms Watson said: “We only have two things to offer, the gifts of time and presence, but we give them whole-heartedly.”

There was an outpouring of support online for Ms Watson following the news she was missing.

“She baptised our baby boy when he passed away at birth and presided over his funeral,” one person wrote on X. “She’s such a wonderful person who gave us unwavering support through our darkest hours.”

Another said: “The compassion and care you gave me and my family when our mum passed last year was a tremendous blessing and support.”

UK

Starmer to no longer accept donations to pay for clothes, Sky News understands

Published

14 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Starmer to no longer accept donations to pay for clothes, Sky News understands

Sir Keir Starmer will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes, Sky News understands.

Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner also announced they would take the same approach moving forward.

The decision by the prime minister, chancellor and deputy prime minister follows scrutiny of Sir Keir Starmer and his wife for accepting donations.

The prime minister has accepted work clothing donations worth £16,200, and multiple pairs of glasses, to the value of £2,485.

According to the MP register of interests, Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations too, to the value of £2,230.

Sky News understands that in June, the deputy prime minister also received a donation by Lord Waheed Alli, a television executive who has donated to Labour over the last 20 years, of £3,550.

The donation was registered but its nature, now understood to be work clothing, was not published.

Sky News understands that since the backlash over the freebies, the registrar was contacted to ensure the donation was published with all the necessary details.

The chancellor has not accepted any such donations, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

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It’s a strategic move from the newbie government

The amount of political chatter over freebies and hospitality for the Prime Minister was starting to look both indulgent and frivolous and it appears as if Number 10 have finally had enough.

I was told Sir Keir Starmer will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes, and neither will Rachel Reeves or Angela Rayner in an apparent attempt to stop this story spiraling through this week and into the Labour conference this weekend.

It’s a strategic move from the newbie government, who had let the story run on perhaps longer than even colleagues in their own party had wanted.

Baroness Harriet Harman spoke out about number 10 trying to justify these free gifts, stating it was just making things worse.

Ministers had also been defending the Prime Minister’s decision to accept donations for days – the latest was Jess Philips, saying accepting Arsenal season tickets was ‘not important.’

Seven hours later though, it appears they’ve decided some of it is important – and have declared a commitment to not accept any more clothing in the future.

Questions still remain over the other hospitality gifts and it’s not entirely clear yet whether this will stem the bleed of bad news before conference weekend, or whether this tacit admittance of a misstep opens another can of worms.

Sky News revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP as his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.

This had all been declared as per the rules but backbench MPs had been expressing concern that the government’s rhetoric of tough decisions on the economy jars with the image of a prime minister accepting freebies.

The row started over the weekend with controversy over Sir Keir’s wife’s clothes.

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said earlier today she is “satisfied” with the prime minister’s explanation of why he has taken the freebies.

She said if he “wasn’t doing a good job in our country” then she “would be more concerned”.

Ms Phillips went on to say it’s not that she doesn’t think it’s important, but added: “I haven’t had a single email about it.

“I have had lots of emails about people not being able to get on a housing list.”

Challenged on the fact that it looks bad having just taken away the winter fuel allowance from pensioners, Ms Phillips said these are “completely separate things”.

“And had he never been to watch the Arsenal, there would still be a £22bn black hole that had to be paid for,” she added.

She said: “All I can say is I’m absolutely knackered trying to make things better.”

What has the PM said in response to criticism?

Speaking to journalists this week, the prime minister said “all MPs get gifts” and he thinks the need to declare them is “a good framework”.

“Wherever there are gifts from anyone, I’m going to comply with the rules,” he said.

“It’s very important to me that the rules are followed. I’ve always said that. I said that before the election. I reinforced it after the election.”

On his acceptance of Arsenal tickets, he added: “I’m a massive Arsenal fan. I can’t go into the stands because of security reasons. Therefore, if I don’t accept a gift of hospitality, I can’t go to a game. You could say: ‘Well, bad luck.’

“That’s why gifts have to be registered. But… never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far.”