Culpable: Deregulation, Austerity and the Causes of the Grenfell Tower Fire

'If anyone still doubts that 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire because successive governments took away safety measures in the name of profit, this lucid, luminously written book will put them straight' - Francis Beckett In June 2017, a fire broke out in the 25-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in West London. 72 people died in what was the worst residential fire in Britain since World War II. Culpable is a searing indictment of the government’s role in this tragedy. For nearly four decades, the ministers responsible for public safety systematically dismantled regulations through privatisation and deregulation, enabling the contractors who made Grenfell Tower a ticking time bomb. Despite warnings from professionals (including the FBU), politicians from successive governments imposed deregulation in the name of the market and in favour of private profiteers. Meticulously researched, and drawing on the extensive findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Culpable sets the record straight and challenges readers to consider the fundamental issues of power and violence that remain unresolved in the aftermath of Grenfell.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Steve Wright, FBU General Secretary Introduction 1. When Grenfell Tower Was Built 2. Thatcher: Deregulation Unleashed 3. Blair: ‘Better’ Deregulation 4. Cameron: Deregulation Accelerated 5. High Rise Building Safety – Warnings Ignored 6. Fire Safety – What Went Wrong? 7. Before the Grenfell Tower Fire 8. The Night of the Grenfell Tower Fire 9. Responses to the Grenfell Tower Fire Conclusion: Justice for Grenfell, Safe Homes for All

About the Author :
Paul Hampton is Head of Research and Policy at the Fire Brigades Union. He is the author of numerous FBU and other labour movement publications, and has been a trade unionist for over 40 years. Steve Wright is General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. He has been a firefighter since 2001, and an FBU official since 2002, including acting as branch rep, brigade secretary, executive council member and vice president.

Review :
'This book should be read right across the trade union movement, particularly by those at the top of the organisation. It shows exactly what a trade union should do. From representing its members, to warning ministers before something goes wrong and then campaigning alongside the public when it does go wrong. The FBU took Grenfell into the labour movement and worked with the community to fight for justice. That’s what trade unionism is all about and the FBU deserves credit for placing this on record in this manner' 'It should come as no surprise that it is Paul Hampton and the FBU that have produced this monumental study. They are to be heartily commended for doing so. Culpable is a searing indictment of the death and destruction neo-liberalism has wreaked and which the FBU has long stood against' 'In this harrowing chronicle of the Grenfell fire, Hampton frames the frantic moments of heroism and exhaustion of that night within a calm, detailed account of the FBU’s fire safety advocacy over the decades leading up to that tragic event. For all the FBU’s clear-sighted insistence that deregulation in public services threatened public safety, Hampton shows how this advice was – and has continued to be – marginalised and ignored by governments and industry alike' 'If anyone still doubts that 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire because successive governments deliberately took away safety measures in the name of cheapness and profit, this lucid, carefully researched, luminously written book by the Fire Brigades Union’s thoroughly professional research officer Paul Hampton will put them straight' 'With compelling detail, Culpable lays the blame squarely at the door of successive government policies of deregulation of laws intended to protect lives. It clearly lays out how the interests of corporate profits were placed ahead of resident safety, ignoring numerous warnings of the dangers from the FBU, residents and many other experts' 'A vital contribution to the post-Grenfell debate, painstakingly researched, passionately argued, and unveiling new evidence from FBU's own archives about the astonishing number of times that politicians and senior officers in the fire service ignored FBU advice aimed at preventing a catastrophe'