{UAH} Kensington and Chelsea council leader quits in wake of Grenfell disaster
The Conservative leader of the embattled Kensington and Chelsea council has resigned in the wake of Grenfell Tower disaster.
Nicholas Paget-Brown said he would step down as soon as a new leader was in place, amid criticism over the local authority's response to the tragedy.
Paget-Brown said he had to accept responsibility for "perceived failings" by the council after the fire which killed at least 80 people.
"I have therefore decided to step down as leader of the council as soon as a successor is in place," he said.
His resignation followed days of criticism over the response to the blaze and over Paget-Brown's decision to seek to bar the press and public from the first council meeting following the fire.
Both Downing Street and the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, said the Conservative-run council should have allowed the media to attend.
A No 10 spokeswoman said the prime minister "would have expected the council to respect" a high court ruling that said journalists should be allowed at the meeting.
While Downing Street also said the council had made some progress over its response to the fire, it is understood to be angry at the chaotic scenes at the cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.
The council initially said the public and media would be barred to avoid potential disorder. However, after a last-minute legal challenge from media organisations including the Guardian, the high court said accredited journalists could attend.
But when the meeting began Paget-Brown made a brief statement and then closed the session, saying it could not continue with journalists present. This prompted loud objections from opposition councillors.
The Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Our view is that access to democracy should always be easy, and we think that's vital if people want to retain confidence in our democratic system.
"I can't obviously speak for the council, but there are rules that state all meetings must be open to the public except in certain circumstances.
"As we saw in this specific case, the high court ruled that the meeting should be open, and we would have expected the council to respect that."
Javid had said: "Access to the democratic process should always be open and transparent – I would urge all levels of government to always favour this approach so people can retain confidence in the system."
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