News / Politics

Rees-Mogg suggests Grenfell Tower fire victims lacked 'common sense'

Wednesday, 06 November 2019 2:27 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 06 November 2019 2:36 PM ]

TOPSHOT - Messages of support are written on a wall surrounding Grenfell tower in west London on October 30, 2019. The emergency response to a 2017 high-rise fire that killed 71 people in London had "serious shortcomings" following the release of an official report into the tragedy. / AFP / ISABEL INFANTES

Britain is still living moments of sorrow for the Grenfell Tower fire; not only for the heartbreaking tragedy but also for the recent comments by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The Leader of the House of Commons said during an LBC radio phone-in on Monday: "The more one's read over the weekend about the report and about the chances of people surviving, if you just ignore what you're told and leave you are so much safer.”

He suggested that victims of the tragedy lacked "common sense" when they obeyed instructions from fire crews to stay inside the burning building.

"I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do. And it is such a tragedy that that didn't happen."

His comments caused a huge amount of hurt and distress and obliged him to issue a “profound apology”.

There was still another issue which sparked fury among the British people. The UK government placed the Rydon building contractor, the company which oversaw the disastrous refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, on an official list of firms recommended to build high-rise housing.

The builder was the main contractor on the recladding, which is said to have been instrumental in the spreading of the fatal blaze in the London tower block fire in June 2017.

The fire, the deadliest in Britain in generations, killed 72 people, while about 200 others in the building survived.

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