A Conservative councillor from Kensington has dismissed a High Court order that allowed the press to report on a private council meeting about the Grenfell fire as a “stunt”.
Catherine Faulks said the meeting about the fire was to be held in private because of concerns about “public order” and defended the council’s decision to cancel the meeting after when it became clear it would be subject to scrutiny.
The postponement, which came on Thursday means that council has not properly met as a body since the fire took place. The court order was pursued jointly by media outlet who had been locked out of covering the meeting; Downing Street said on Friday it would have expected the council to respect the court order.
Ms Faulks, who is married to Conservative peer and former Cabinet minister Lord Faulks QC said: “It was a very clever stunt by the press to create this impression of chaos in this meeting that we were having and I just want to explain: the meeting was for all councillors of all parties to disseminate information about exactly what we are doing on the ground.
“The press decided to get an ex parte application at the last minute which means that the council had no right to reply or say they were doing or see what the reasons they had put forward to have the injunction put in private.”
Asked to explain why the meeting was in private, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reason we had given primarily to have the meeting in private was that we were worried there was a public order issue which had already been demonstrated by the invasion we had of the council.”
Nicholas Paget-Brown, who resigned as leader of the council on Friday night, had justified stopping the meeting from going ahead on the basis that holding it in public could prejudice an upcoming inquiry into the disaster, in which at least 80 people have died.
By law local authority meetings have to be open to the public barring a very specific set of circumstances, which the High Court judged had not been met in this case.
The councillor’s intervention comes after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called for commissioners to be brought in to run the London borough because it had become “clear that the local community in and around North Kensington has lost trust in the council and that the administration is not fit for purpose”.
Yvette Williams, a spokesperson for the Justice4Grenfell campaign, said on Saturday morning that she supported the Mayor’s call for a commissioner-led borough but that residents had to be involved in the selection process.
“We’re quite capable of running a local authority but they need to speak to us, we’re not going to have people consistently imposed on us, selected by who?” she told the same programme.
In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire
Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementís Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom “The deputy leader and the leader were never voted in the north of the borough, they’ve never represented us and that’s possibly why there’s this disconnection with the community there.
She continued: “It’s taken the Mayor of London to suggest to downing Street that maybe commissioners should come in, Downing Street didn’t ask Padget-Brown to go, so why would we then trust that process to bring people in?
“I do support the Mayor in terms of a commissioner-led borough but how are those people going to be selected, that’s what we don’t know.”