K&C Chief Exec resigns over Grenfell Tower

NICHOLAS HOLGATE, Chief Executive of Kensington & Chelsea Council, has resigned in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Holgate explained that the Government’s Communities and Local Government Secretary, the Rt Hon.Sajid Javid MP had told the Leader of Kensington & Chelsea Council to tell the Chief Executive that he was required to resign.

In recent days it has been reported that Tory Councillor Nicholas Paget-Brown, Leader of the Council, had offered to resign. There has been no news on whether the Minister has agreed that he should to so. Questions will now be asked about whether Holgate has been made a scapegoat so that the political reputation of the Council can be salvaged.

The Kensington & Chelsea case has some similarities with the case of Baby P, who died in Haringey after social care workers did not take action which might have saved him. Then Children’s Secretary Ed Balls stepped in over the heads of local councillors and sacked Sharon Shoesmith from her post as Head of Children’s Services. She later won an Employment Tribunal case against her dismissal on the grounds that the Secretary of State did not have the power to sack her – any decision to do so could only be taken by her employer. The Labour Leader of Haringey Council later resigned over the child protection failings – making it clear that there was no political attempt to save the reputation of local politicians.

It will be interesting to see, when the full story is known, what powers the Minister was using to justify telling the Leader of Kensington and Chelsea to require Holgate to resign.

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