Sir Tony Blair has been branded “despicable” by the Fire Brigades Union after the former prime minister said tragedies like the Grenfell fire cannot be completely avoided as people are “going to make mistakes”.
Speaking to the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge on Thursday, Sir Tony was asked whether he accepted that the tragedies of Grenfell, the infected blood scandal and the Post Office scandal meant there had been a “failure of leadership” in government.
“This is a difficult thing to say, but it’s the honest truth – however good your system is and however well-intentioned it is, and however hard people work, they’re going to make mistakes,” he replied.
“It’s important that you hold people accountable for those mistakes, of course – but I don’t think you’re ever going to get a situation where decisions are perfectly taken in perfect circumstances and there aren’t accidents or tragedies that occur.
“It’s just important every time they do occur to try and learn the lessons of them,” he added.
Speaking today, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said these comments were “despicable”.
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He said: “Tony Blair‘s despicable comments are the remarks of a multi-millionaire who has lost touch with the reality of people’s lives.
“Every single person has the right to a safe, decent home. Every single one of the deaths at Grenfell Tower were unnecessary and wholly avoidable.
“The Grenfell fire was not the result of a well-intentioned people making mistakes, but of a systematic disregard for the safety of residents – and the prioritisation of private profit over human life.
“As prime minister, Tony Blair was an enthusiastic supporter of the same agenda of deregulation that led to the Grenfell disaster.
“At the heart of this agenda of deregulation is a disdain for working class people, and a view that sees their living standards, and even their lives, as expendable in pursuit of free market economics.
“It is no wonder that the public are losing faith in politicians when politicians like Tony Blair make it clear that they have no regard for ordinary people.”
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Earlier this week, the independent inquiry in the tower block fire – which left 72 people dead – published its report.
Seven years after the tragedy, the 1,670-page report exposed “systematic dishonesty” from those who made and sold panels and insulation.
The fire was worsened by combustible cladding on the outside of the west London block.
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The report also said the system of regulation in the construction and maintenance of high-rise buildings was “seriously defective in a number of respects”
It added the government failed to actively monitor that system and ensure that dangers of which it became aware were communicated to industry.
And the report pointed out that the UK government had 26 years – since 1991 when a Merseyside tower caught fire – to identify the risks with cladding and insulation.
“Indeed, by 2016 the department was well aware of those risks, but failed to act on what it knew,” it said.
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The report said the government failed to heed a warning by the Environment and Transport Select Committee in 1999, which cautioned that it should not take a deadly fire for steps to be taken to minimise the risks posed by some external cladding systems.
Sir Tony was prime minister between 1997 and 2007.
