Kingspan chief ‘drove’ lobbying against combustible cladding ban after Grenfell tragedy

Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died hears company did its ‘best to ensure that science was secretly perverted for financial gain’

Grenfell Tower in London where 72 people died in a fire in 2017

Gene Murtagh, the chief executive of Kingspan, drove lobbying efforts to “undermine” the British government’s proposed ban on combustible cladding in the months after the fatal Grenfell Tower fire, it was alleged before the inquiry into the tragedy last week.

Richard Millett QC, counsel for the inquiry, also accused Kingspan of doing “its best to ensure that science was secretly perverted for financial gain”.

Last week’s hearings at the inquiry were focused mostly on the ...