As Kensington & Chelsea Council (RBKC) prepares for the third of its community meetings following publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase Two Report, the local authority is refusing to explain the strange case of Councillor David Lindsay, the former Mayor recently outed in a racism scandal. To date, Lindsay is the only council official to resign over the failings detailed in the Grenfell report.

A Times exposé in September published allegations of workplace bullying, serious neglect of Grenfell survivors and ineffective scrutiny of housing management, as well as detailing Cllr David Lindsay’s racism during a Black History Month event at North Kensington Fire Station in 2022, while he was Mayor of Kensington. As we reported on September 10^th the council’s response was to explain and contain the racism incident. The upshot was Cllr Lindsay announcing his decision not to stand for council when the next local elections come around in 2026.

In a press statement, Cllr Lindsay explained his decision: “In the light of the Grenfell Inquiry report, and the serious issues associated with the response in the immediate days, it is right that I step back from local politics…it is the right thing to do.”

Scathing

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report is scathing in its criticism of RBKC’s initial response to the 2017 fire, saying it was “muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal” and that “RBKC’s systems and leadership were wholly inadequate to the task of handling an incident of such magnitude and gravity.”

Cllr Lindsay was not part of RBKC’s leadership team before the fire, so is not one of those most culpable for the failures. Three of the current leadership team – RBKC Leader Cllr Elizabeth Campbell; Lead Member for Family & Children’s Services, Cllr Catherine Faulks, and Chair of the Audit & Transparency Committee, Cllr Gerard Hargreaves – were all in cabinet roles before the fire, and it would surely be more appropriate that they stand down because of their roles in making decisions and creating the culture that contributed to the completely avoidable man-made catastrophe.

The Inquiry Report, which RBKC has accepted in its entirety, criticises the council for failing to do enough “to cater for those from diverse backgrounds” and hints at an issue of institutional Islamophobia, but it does not cite anti-Black racism specifically, which is what Cllr Lindsay admitted he was guilty of.

Explanation?

We asked both RBKC’s press office and Cllr David Lindsay to explain the connection between the Inquiry Report’s criticism of the council’s response to the fire and Cllr Lindsay’s decision to not stand as councillor in 2026, but neither have responded.

The stated reason for Cllr Lindsay’s non-participation in 2026 will have happened nine years earlier. And his racism (not given as his reason to stand aside, but which we can assume contributed to his decision) will have been four years before the self-inflicted punishment.

In September this year, we reported on RBKC’s briefing to councillors, at which CEO Maxine Holdsworth and Leader, Cllr Campbell, detailed how RBKC would handle the findings of the Grenfell Inquiry Report through its public relations department and a series of community meetings.

It seems that Cllr Lindsay’s decision to retire has formed part of this PR-led response. The abusive racist language used by the council’s figurehead mayor, elected into that role by the Conservative councillors, has apparently been opportunistically utilised by RBKC to support the PR strategy. Cllr Lindsay, who had been a backbencher before Grenfell, then part of the leadership team and Mayor, and who was presumably considering retirement after finding himself on the backbenches again, seems to be RBKC’s sacrificial lamb. Holdsworth and Campbell will hope that the jettisoning of Lindsay will help to create a plausible sense that a culture change is underway at the Town Hall.

In stark contrast, at the two carefully controlled public meetings held since the Report’s publication, there has been no sacrifice from the council, no giving of ground, just a satori from Cllr Campbell and more evidence that this institution is incapable of meaningful change.

Connection

What is the connection between Councillor David Lindsay’s decision not to stand for election in 2026 and the “serious issues” in Kensington & Chelsea Council leadership’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017?

What is the connection between Cllr Lindsay’s decision not to stand for election in 2026 and his racist language at a Black History Month event in 2022?

The connections do not exist, otherwise Cllr Lindsay would have been sacked or offered to resign in 2022 or 2024. But both council and councillor are willing to pretend that Lindsay’s political demise is related to these scandals, to create an illusion of change during a time of reckoning over the local authority’s failures. ♠

The final community meeting ahead of RBKC’s official response to the Inquiry Report takes place this Thursday 7^th November, 6-8pm at Maxilla Social Club.

By Tom Charles

@tomhcharles

Image: Byron Knoll, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons