The Grenfell report is a blueprint for an overhaul of our dysfunctional state

Over 1,700 pages, no one is spared. Tony Blair’s government did not heed the warnings of a crucial select committee; David Cameron’s government launched an unthinking deregulation drive, eagerly driven forward in housing and building safety by the then housing secretary, Eric Pickles, whose evidence disclaiming knowledge of the impact of what he was doing the report dismisses as “flatly contradicted” by departmental documents. Then there were the contractors who systematically lied about their knowledge of the dangerous inflammability of the products they were selling and deploying; building safety organisations and regulators asleep on the job; local government that ignored the worries of tenants; even the less than effective approach of the London fire brigade – firefighters, for example, not knowing which water hydrant to use.