Theresa May deputy Damian Green brands criticism of PM over Grenfell Tower ‘terribly unfair’

Damian Green has defended Theresa May's response to the fire

Theresa May’s most senior minister has said critics of her handling of the Grenfell Tower tragedy are being “terribly unfair”.

First Secretary of State Damian Green defended the way the Prime Minister has handled the disaster, after she was heckled with yells of “shame on you” and “coward” by an angry crowd when she met victims on Friday evening.

She has faced growing criticism after failing to meet victims during a visit of the base of the tower site following the blaze.

And later on Friday she was slammed as “inhuman” after a Newsnight interview about the disaster, during which she appeared visibly uncomfortable as she struggled to answer questions.

Inside Grenfell Tower

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Mr Green dismissed suggestions the Prime Minister does not seem to have what it takes to respond to such a disaster.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "She's distraught by what happened as we all are."

"Absolutely she has the same degree of sympathy and horror at these events that we all have," he added.

Mr Green said the Government expected to appoint a chairman to lead the public inquiry "in days rather than weeks".

"We want it to be able to have interim reports as well," he added. "So this is not going to be one of those exercises of using a public inquiry to delay a response. Actually, we want the response to be as fast as possible."

Mr Green said the probe will look at whether sprinklers should be retrofitted to tower blocks and the Government will "follow the recommendations of the public inquiry".

Thirty people have been confirmed dead in the fire, which broke out early on Wednesday morning, while a further 70 are still missing.

On Saturday morning, NHS England said there are 19 patients in four London hospitals receiving care of which 10 are critical.

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