Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Every London council faces the challenges of Grenfell Tower

It’s very weird when a friend is in the news. I’ve known Nicholas Holgate for years. Until now, he was Town Clerk for Kensington and Chelsea council. I would say this, but he’s one of the most decent people I know; think rock-solid integrity, think public service. He was in the Treasury for years before moving to the council; central government’s loss, local government’s gain, I thought at the time. And he’s a Liberal Democrat, though he had to sit on that while he worked in government. Anyway, he’s the one person in the fallout from the Grenfell Tower fire who has had to resign in consequence of what happened; not so much obliged to fall on his sword from the looks of things, as have Sajid Javid push him down onto it.

There: that’s my personal interest in the thing.

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