Grenfell Tower fire: Former council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown quits
Nicholas Paget-Brown quit as leader of the council in charge of the tower block weeks after the deadly fire.
Thursday 19 October 2017 19:45, UK
The man in charge of Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council when the Grenfell Tower fire broke out has said he will stand down as a councillor at next year's local elections.
Nicholas Paget-Brown quit as leader of the Conservative-run council in the weeks after the deadly blaze in June, in which 80 people died.
He said at the time that he had to take responsibility for the local authority's "perceived failings".
In a statement issued on Thursday, he said he will not run again as a councillor because his staying on might be a "distraction".
"The public inquiry into (the fire's) causes, and the devastating speed with which it spread, is now under way and I will help it in any way that I can," he said.
"I have greatly enjoyed my years on the council representing the residents of Brompton & Hans Town and most recently serving as leader of the council.
"However, my continuation as a councillor is likely to serve as a distraction as the council lobbies the Government to address these issues and I have therefore decided not to stand again as a candidate at next year's elections," he added.
Mr Paget-Brown, who has been a councillor for 31 years, became the focus of fierce criticism of the local authority's handling of the disaster, which prompted the Government to send in a specialist taskforce to help the recovery effort.
He lost further credibility when he when he shut out the public and journalists from the first full council meeting since the fire, in a move criticised by Downing Street.
In his statement, he again denied accusations that the council had pursued a policy of so-called "social cleansing" in the borough, prompted by a programme of regenerating and rebuilding post-war estates.
"All tenants and resident leaseholders would have been offered new homes in these developments and there would have been additional homes for sale or rent," he said.
"So we would have built more homes of better quality for local people with sustained investment in the stock. Under this policy there would have been no 'social cleansing'."
The local elections take place in May.