Even before Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, got involved, questions such as these made the fire a political event.
Even if Corbyn hadn’t used the fire to ask questions about the responsibility of the various public bodies involved in managing and overseeing the tower, people would have wanted answers.
Some commentators on the left are hoping to make this a simple story of austerity: A heartless Conservative government cut central government spending on public housing and cut the wages of the firefighters who battled the blaze, they argue.
Mishandling the emergency in New Orleans after the 2005 hurricane destroyed any claim President George W. Bush had to provide competent or compassionate government. Will it do the same for May?
In truth, the Grenfell tragedy is not a perfect parallel for Katrina. The politics too are different.
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