Euan McColm: UK leader must inspire confidence, not contempt

Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to fire services chiefs at Grenfell Tower on Thursday, but avoided residents. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

It was the final straw, a moment of such monumentally poor judgment that it beggared belief.

When Theresa May visited the scene of the Grenfell Tower disaster in Kensington on Thursday, she did so as public anger over what will surely turn out to be many dozens of deaths grew stronger. This being so, the Prime Minister had an important duty to perform.

Her failure to perform it confirms her unfitness for the office she holds. At a time when survivors needed answers and the reassurance that what they experienced truly matters and will have consequences, May failed to provide any of that. Her decision not to meet those bereaved and homeless after fire gripped the tower block was unforgivable. It should haunt her for what must be a very short career in high office.

The Prime Minister’s allies have variously spun that there were security issues and that May did not want to distract from vital ongoing work. Let’s call bullshit on all of that. There was nothing to stop May reaching out to people at this critical moment. She failed to do so because she is simply not equipped to be Prime Minister.

Can you imagine, in the aftermath of a similar tragedy in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon hiding away from those most deeply affected? Of course you can’t. Nor can you imagine Scottish Conservative Party leader, Ruth Davidson, doing the same.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, an increasingly impressive figure, did what the Prime Minister failed to and met survivors and angry local residents. With, it must be said, great composure and dignity, he absorbed angry barbs.

And, after permitting members of the crowd to vent their frustrations upon him, Khan paid due respect to their righteous anger. He was angry, too, and there would be answers.