Former housing minister complains about being questioned at Grenfell Inquiry as he had ‘busy day’ planned

Former housing secretary Eric Pickles has complained about having to answer questions at the Grenfell Inquiry this morning because he had a “busy day” planned.

Pickles told counsel to the inquiry Richard Millett QC to “use your time wisely” because he had “changed my schedules to fit this [attending the inquiry] in”.

The outburst came amid a series of tense exchanges at today’s hearing of the inquiry during which Pickles was asked about the government’s policies of deregulation in the years leading up to the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in June 2017.

Pickles, who also gave evidence to the inquiry yesterday, was only scheduled to appear at the inquiry during today’s morning session but the hearing has now overrun into the afternoon.

在收到一系列关于部门内部邮件的问题后，越来越恼火的皮克尔斯告诉米勒特:“我能不能礼貌地提醒你，你答应过我们今天上午会离开，我已经更改了日程安排来适应这段时间，我今天确实非常忙，要会见很多人……但我希望你能明智地利用时间。”

A shaken Millett replied: “Right…may I please have an answer to my question” to which Pickles said that he had already answered the question to “the point of exhaustion”.

在上午休息之前，皮克尔斯告诉调查主席马丁·摩尔·比克，他有“一些国际客人来见我”，并要求被告知会议是否会延长到下午，这样他就可以“开始取消”。皮克尔斯于2017年辞去国会议员一职，现在是英国大屠杀后问题特使。

Pickles later apologised for the comments.

Returning after the break, he said: “I’d like to apologise to you and particularly to Mr Millett for anywhere I seemed discourteous. As soon as I left the room I took the decision to cancel everything and this is more important than anything I’m doing.”

Moore-Bick responded by saying he was “sorry that we’re going to interfere with your programme for the afternoon”.

Pickles’ complaints were criticised on Twitter, with deputy London mayor for housing and residential development Tom Copley calling it a “jaw dropping display of arrogance and disdain”.

Copley added: “Only a thoroughly odious person would treat a public inquiry into the deaths of 72 people with such disrespect and contempt.”

Pickles was secretary of state at the Department of Communities and Local government between 2010 and 2015, a period in which cutting red tape was encouraged.

听证会上看到了一封来自一位新闻官员的电子邮件，他提议媒体报道皮克尔斯，标题包括“皮克尔斯引入了新的部门繁文缛节测试”和“二出一进”。部长们加大了削减官僚主义的力度。”

The email, sent by Jane Houghton, described how all future policy at the department would be subject to “bureaucracy busting” tests to keep new regulation “to a minimum”.

At yesterday’s hearing, Pickles described claims made by his officials that deregulatory policies at the department had restricted efforts to toughen up fire safety guidance as “ludicrous”.

但他也承认，他一直支持简化繁文缛节，官员们在这样一个政策环境下工作是一件“好事”，在这种环境下，出台新规被视为最后的手段。