David Lammy: Call Grenfell Tower for what it is, gross negligence manslaughter

The Labour MP has delivered a damning assessment of the tragedy that killed 72 people

David Lammy has called the fire that killed 72 people at Grenfell Tower an act of gross negligence manslaughter. Speaking on Unfiltered with James O'Brien, the former barrister said the circumstances that caused the inferno were "criminal." During the podcast Lammy shared the impact of his father abandoning his family and the terror of being subjected to stop and search by the police but his righteous anger was most vivid when conversation moved to Grenfell. The tower block, which sits in London's richest borough, was incinerated and the MP lost a close friend. "I think of my friend Khadija Saye, who interned with my wife, who was me," Lammy said. "She was really emerging. 24, wonderful young woman. And… she died." That personal connection funnels emotion into the politician who hammered the housing crisis as "criminal, absolutely criminal." https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/971085862229463041 He said: "I think that this amounts to a kind of gross negligence manslaughter. "I think those people were badly let down. The state has a terrible habit, when it sets up inquiries, of kicking things into the long grass. There are lots of ways in which these people can be "othered," can be described as immigrants, different, Muslim. "And… I’m never gonna give up on my responsibility, or the little role I can play in public life, to stand up for those people and on behalf of those people. "The inquiry got off to a very bad start. I think that Mr Moore-Bick has not been able to command the trust of the community. "When the Lawrence inquiry was set up, and Macpherson was a white, upper-middle class man leading it, he had as his wing men John Sentamu, and a wonderful Jewish activist and academic Richard Stone, so you can do it. "He commanded the trust of Doreen Lawrence. It can be done, but it hasn’t happened on this occasion."