Survivors and families of the Grenfell Tower tragedy have expressed their outrage over what they call a deep and biting injustice. They criticize the fact that many officials criticized in the public inquiry for their roles in the disaster continue to work in the related fields, seemingly unhindered.
As the eighth anniversary of the fire approaches, a spokesperson for Grenfell United stated, “We relive the pain every day. While we are left grieving, fighting, and waiting for justice, they carry on with their lives and careers intact.” They view it as a slap in the face to every survivor and bereaved family that some of those involved in the tragedy, including civil servants, government ministers, councillors, and corporate executives, have gone on to have successful careers, many still involved in housing and local government.
Laura Johnson, who was director of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the time of the fire, is now an interim director at Barnet Homes. The inquiry found that she had delayed the installation of self-closing mechanisms on fire doors for what were deemed financial and practical reasons. The failure of these mechanisms contributed to the rapid spread of smoke and fire on the night of the tragedy.
Johnson also pushed for renovation work on the block to be carried out on a lower budget, which led to combustible plastic-filled panels being used in place of metal cladding to save money.
Brian Martin, a civil servant who took responsibility for being a “single point of failure” leading up to the fire, has since become a fire safety expert witness, even testifying in the first UK cladding tribunal case in 2023. It has been alleged that he responded with “show me the bodies” when advised to tighten fire safety rules to prevent a similar disaster. An investigation found that he had recommended changes to the building rules but failed to do so.
Deborah French, a former sales manager at Arconic, has admitted that she was aware the cladding she sold could burn but did not inform her customers. She has since worked at the building materials supplier Taylor Maxwell as their national cladding director until 2023.
Nicholas Paget-Brown, the leader of RBKC at the time of the fire, initially resisted calls to resign following criticism of his authority’s response. He has since started his own consultancy firm on public policy issues.
Stuart Cundy, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, has said that the Grenfell Tower fire investigation is the most complex ever undertaken by a UK law enforcement agency, involving the examination of criminal offences such as corporate manslaughter, fraud, and health and safety violations.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/14/a-slap-in-the-face-grenfell-officials-still-working-in-housing-eight-years-after-fire
