Senior Labour MPs fear the judge chosen to lead the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry will not have the “confidence” of survivors, because of his controversial record.
Two MPs have already questioned the appointment of Sir Martin Moore-Bick – one suggesting the choice has worrying echoes of the ill-fated probe into the child abuse scandal.
Theresa May was severely embarrassed when no fewer than three people chosen to lead that inquiry were forced to step down, crippling it from the start.
The appointment of Sir Martin is controversial after his ruling in a housing dispute triggered warnings that local authorities would be able to “engage in social cleansing of the poor”.
The retired judge was also part of a Court of Appeal panel that overturned a ruling allowing four Syrian refugees living in the Calais Jungle to come to Britain.
Asked if Labour supported the choice, Jack Dromey, a shadow business minister, said: “We will have to look at his history
“Naturally, what we need to have is somebody who commands confidence on the part of those who went though purgatory.
“Above all, the test for me is whoever conducts this independent inquiry – and a fundamental inquiry is necessary into what went wrong – has got to be acceptable to the families.”
Meanwhile, Lisa Nandy, a former shadow Energy Secretary, tweeted: “This feels worryingly similar to the child abuse inquiry. The Grenfell Inquiry must have the confidence of survivors.”
The Prime Minister confirmed the appointment of Sir Martin early today, describing him as a “highly respected and hugely experienced former Court of Appeal judge”.
Ms May said he had been recommended as the judge “best suited to the task and available to start work immediately so that we can get answers to what happened as quickly as possible”.
“I am determined that there will be justice for all the victims of this terrible tragedy and for their families who have suffered so terribly,” she wrote in a Commons statement.
“The immediate priority is to establish the facts of what happened at Grenfell Tower in order to take the necessary action to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
“But, beyond that immediate focus, it is also important that all the wider lessons from both this catastrophe, and the inspections of other buildings around the country that followed it, are identified and learnt.”
Sir Martin has been asked to produce an interim report “as early as possible”, but with no apparent commitment to do that by the summer – as London Mayor Sadiq Khan has demanded.
