Why would a feminist vote conservative?

tribunemag.co.uk/2019/11/debunking-the-grenfell-lies

Debunking the Grenfell Lies
By
Emma Dent Coad
This week Liberal Democrat Sam Gyimah claimed that Labour MP Emma Dent Coad was partly responsible for the Grenfell tragedy - here, she debunks his allegation and calls on him to apologise for the smear.

wo days after the Grenfell Tower fire an article appeared in London’s Evening Standard in which the former Conservative MP for Kensington accused me of ‘collective responsibility’ for the fire. This was exactly a week after I had won the Kensington constituency, overturning a Tory majority of 7,000 by just 20 votes.

I witnessed the fire, at the end of my road, in which several friends had been able to escape – and others had not. Some of them had been active in the residents’ group which had predicted the fire in November 2016, and then for their trouble had been sent a cease and desist letter from the Council for “scaremongering.”

The fire was utterly shocking and unbearably sad. The accusation levelled against me was inexcusable. I had countless death threats and had to ask the police for protection. My house was under police surveillance. I have asked three times for the former Tory MP Victoria Borwick to apologise and admit she had spoken in error. To date, she has refused

After Jacob Rees-Mogg’s appalling comments at the start of this election that the victims of the fire lacked ‘common sense,’ I didn’t think it could get worse. But I was wrong. Grenfell has become a political football. In recent days the Liberal Democrat candidate Sam Gyimah has repeated the accusation that I was somehow involved, but embellished it by saying that I “was part of all the discussions that went on in terms of the cladding.”

This is quite simply a lie. Where Gyimah got his information from I have no idea, but when misinformation brings death threats, and the perpetrator refuses to correct the error or apologise, and others don’t bother to verify and repeat it, the lie spreads like a virus.

So, here are some checkable facts which I hope will end this libel. I joined the Board of the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) in June 2008 and left in October 2012. (Here is a link to the Board of Directors, also showing which Councillors were on it and when. Council Leader Cllr. Elizabeth Campbell was on the Board at the same time as me.

During my tenure there had been numerous complaints from residents about the condition of Grenfell Tower: broken lifts, draughty windows, poor insulation, and the heating and hot water system regularly breaking down.

In October 2012 (around the time I left the TMO) the then-Cabinet member Cllr. Tim Coleridge announced that a major refurbishment would be undertaken. Residents were pleased. At the time, the proposed contractor was with Leadbitter. The scope of the work was agreed at the time, but the detail was to come.

In April 2013 responsibility for the project was handed over to the new Cabinet member, Cllr. Rock Feilding-Mellen. It was not until January 2014 that the planning application was agreed (search for Grenfell Tower at this link)
n April 2014 it was announced by the Council and TMO that, due to costs, the contract had been awarded to Rydon rather than Leadbitter, who had scoped the work. Note that this was after the planning application was granted approval.

Throughout the summer amendments were made and detailed specifications decided. Cladding materials were proposed on 1 July, 2014. There were several amendments during this period. Often the details of these are done by ‘delegated decision’, which means the final details and choice of materials is decided by officers and not the Planning Committee.

Then on 30 September 2014 ‘Condition 3’ was agreed by delegated decision; this related to the final choice of cladding.

Who made those decisions, advised by whom, and why, should be thoroughly scrutinised by the agencies tasked with the job of investigating these matters and allocating accountability, responsibility, blame and – we hope ultimately – guilt.

To be clear, I was on the Board when the principle of refurbishing Grenfell Tower was discussed, but I was nowhere near the decision-making process for the detailed specifications for refurbishing Grenfell which started when I left. Board members agreed the contract but do not specify cladding or indeed any other technical details. Neither should they.

As you can see clearly from the dates when decisions were made above, the accusation made by the Liberal Democrat candidate Sam Gyimah is incorrect. He has been asked to apologise for his mistake. At the time of writing he has not.

I have signed up for the ‘Compassion in Politics’ campaign, which among other things hopes to: avoid language or behaviour that encourages hate or disrespect; speak with truth and integrity; uphold a level of respect and professionalism. I have huge respect for those who set up this campaign. Some of those who have signed should have a long, hard think.

I met Gyimah for the first time at a hustings recently, and offered a quiet chat afterwards on whether he wished to withdraw his comments. He didn’t take up the offer. I have no wish to spend time, money and stress taking legal action against someone who is clearly misinformed, but if I must, I will.

If this politically motivated lie continues to spread some people will believe it. My life could be in danger. He will be responsible for that.

Politics has always been argumentative and bitter at times. It has now become deadly. For the record, I will never respond in kind. Kindness – and compassion – are also contagious"

The Lib Dems want to remove women's hard won rights and the language we need to challenge the very real disadvantage and discrimination that we suffer because of our biology. The Tories despise the poor - and poverty falls disproportionately on women because we bear the brunt of caring responsibilities. Labour and the unions have always been for the 'men-y'. Women make up more than half the population and there isn't a single political party that gives a shit about us.

Thank you Barbara, I know it’s just an emoji on a screen but that genuinely touched me. I’m feeling particularly emotional at the moment though as my husband isn’t great and it’s a strain on both of us

Honestly, I’d settle for Lord Buckethead right now if he agreed women exist and promised to reverse welfare cuts.

Anyone but Comrade Corbyn, today will be another ‘free’ offer unicorns for all. He is unpleasant as are his cronies and will improve life for no one

poor women are literally dying and forced into sex work under a Tory government

The problem is that the dominant group in the Labour Party has strangely capitalist views on sex work.

If they had the same opinions about child labour they would be saying things like "Some children enjoy working up chimneys, how dare you deprive children of the chance to express themselves by making carpets, if children can't work in mills, how else will they eat?".

The Tories exist to keep the wealth of the country in the hands of the few. Why anyone outside that demographic would vote for them is baffling - if you're on the bones of your arse why would you vote for trust funders to keep all their unearned privilege, opportunity, tax breaks and wealth?

titoftheiceberg

Just looked up my local candidates in the local paper and the first BTL comment is "where's the monster raving loony party when you need them?"

I do agree with you OP. And that’s not to say I don’t recognise the threat of self-ID to our rights, I think it’s pretty fucking scary that we could lose the means to define what a woman is. But rightly or wrongly I do think that’s something we have more chance of successfully fighting against (especially if Maya wins her case which would give us a legal precedent to point to).

Meanwhile my DH is slowly, literally dying in front of my eyes because of austerity. Treatments that were available on the NHS are no longer available for him due to the swingeing cuts. Therapies that he could access privately are denied to him because upon the enforced move from DLA to PIP, his disability benefits were halved so we can no longer afford to pay for them. That is the reality of life under the Tories if you are not independently wealthy or if you are fortunate enough to not have encountered redundancy, disability, repossession or similar and think it could never happen to you.

I don’t know who I will be voting for because at the moment they are all just various shades of shit on the political colour chart, but I know for certain it won’t be Tory.

@theflushedzebra ah my mistake - I had thought AV was a type of PR, but you're right, it isn't. Obviously I had a really clear idea of what I was voting for!

I voted against PR (it was actually AV not PR) because of the risk of extremists getting seats. I was very close to a council who had a BNP person in and it wasn't good.

Well, there was a PR referendum in 2011 and the country voted against it. I get why people would like it but given the choice the UK said no.

Having grown up in a country where the second house is PR, the downside is while there is more diverse representation this also translates to a lot more extremists, so while the greens would have more seats so would possibly the BNP or NF.

I live in hope that some day the UK will implement a proportional voting system and we can finally have political parties that are actually voted in based on their policies rather than having to hold our noses and vote for the least bad of an awful bunch.

Thanks @BarbaraStrozzi - will take a look!

I am in a London borough where they weigh Labour votes, so my vote is largely academic. I was going to vote Lib Dem to add to the remain numbers, but their position on self ID is just awful. So I guess I will spoil my ballot. It is utterly galling to have no one to vote for - not even the WE party!

@Barracker fully agree with your post from Monday

I live in a safe SNP area so tactical voting doesn't work here. I have been a floating voter over the years between the 3 biggest parties. I feel fear and disgust that a major political, party in the democratic west is actively rejecting women so will never forgive ref Lib Dem's. This has been the hardest decision for me as a voter I only hope I don't feel as fearful for women's rights at the next GE

Feminists can vote for whoever they want. Women having that freedom is kind of the point of feminism! Although I admit I look at the videos and photos of that violent attack on a peaceful women's meeting and I read things like Rosena Allin-Khan's response, calling the women a hate group and blaming them for the violence done to them, and I do wonder why ant feminist would vote Labour.

I cannot stand Jeremy Corbyn, or most of the shitshow currently running the Labour Party, and think they are woman-hating, antisemitic fuckwits, but I will vote Labour in December. My local Labour MP is no fan of Corbyn, either, and although he's a bit centrist for my taste, he's a decent bloke who I have talked to about gender ideology, and he gets it. (Not enough to go public on it, but still. Cowardice in politics is hardly new.)

I absolutely hate that I have to vote for the least worst, but I have personal experience of how the "hostile environment" the Tories have created and fostered destroys lives and creates immense hardship for both individuals and communities. I can admire individual Tories but I could not vote for them.

Corbyn as PM would be a disaster, but so is Boris already.

We deserve a choice, and we are not getting one.

Because the conservatives are the only ones upholding democracy.

I just don’t see how any women who cares about other women could vote in a way that has and will continue to openly and hugely negatively impact the most vulnerable women in our society

I think a trashed economy will hurt even more though

Toot have you seen Robert Altemeyer's book, The Authoritarians ?

www.theauthoritarians.org/

Very similar ideas, I think (particular focus on what makes people happy to follow authoritarian leaders). Altmeyer's focus is on right wing authoritarians but he does point out that many of the same traits pop up on the left as well.

This thread is deeply depressing. Boils down to 'I think x are less shit for women than y because z'.

It's fucking awful. Women make up roughly 51% of the population and we are reduced to scrabbling around to try and work out the least shit option.

There is no good option for women. Should be a national scandal. But it's not.

Zebra and Koshkat, agree on the shouting and intolerance.

Don't know if anyone gets Ian Leslie's Ruffians email newsletter (would recommend if not!). He recently wrote this on the psychology of extremists (which I would count the shouty intolerant types of all hues):

"When I encounter people with extreme or radical political views I'm struck by how they have different ways of processing information and reaching conclusions to me. We're not just disagreeing on policy, we have a completely different mindset. This interesting paper explores the "cognitive style" of extremists, whether left or right (it chimes with the theme of my New Statesman piece on simplism). The authors find that extremists take a much more black-and-white view of the world, drawing very firm lines between different categories of people, and that this habit derives from "psychological distress" (it sounds more like unease, or insecurity). Adopting a more extreme ideology, the researchers suggest, is a way of finding meaning in a frighteningly meaningless world. They find that extremists tend to be massively over-confident in their political opinions. That rings true. For extremists, moderates must seem infuriatingly wishy-washy and complacent. To moderates like me, extremists come across as strident and overbearing and maddeningly incapable of considering whether or not they're wrong. But - not to be patronising or anything - we moderates should have sympathy with extremists: they are staving off the howling void inside."

Because the modern left are batshit insane.

Tulips there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that would be the case and this propaganda that labour would ruin the economy is what paralyzes people into accepting that maybe the devil you know Is better.
We do live in a democracy remember so if there were a change of government who did make things worse we simply kick them out again in 4 years time.. to harp back to "this is as good as it gets" is like staying with an abusive partner because there are worse people out there!
My question is how bad do things have to get before we take a chance on change?
Perhaps when we start getting charged to see our GPs or schools start closing due to lack of funding ?

HelenaDove

There have been three threads I've seen at different times on that report, that might explain the lack of response. At least one, the first I think, had a long discussion.

You could equally ask how any feminist could vote for Labour given Corbyn’s support for the state of Iran!! He doesn’t seem to show much concern for oppression of women over there and seems rather fond of patriarchal dictatorships...