She listened to Grenfell's bereaved and then acted. Rayner had pure class — our class Kimia Zabihyan

Unlike her predecessors as housing minister, she confronted the issue of dismantling the tower and demolition has now started

- Kimia Zabihyan

My 84-year-old mother called me in tears as I was watching a news bulletin about Angela Rayner's resignation.

"Is everything OK?" I asked. "It's Angela Rayner... I can't believe what they've done to her," she said.

Mum reached out because she knows that, in my capacity as an advocate for the Grenfell Next of Kin, I've met the former deputy prime minister and housing minister many times. Once, in my defence for missing a family gathering, I mentioned that I was seeing her. To my surprise, my mum recognised the name. "Oh... I like her," she said.

By the time Rayner assumed her most recent office in July 2024, Grenfell Next of Kin, and everyone affected, had endured seven different secretaries of state for housing under the Conservative government, following the Grenfell tragedy in June 2017, with Michael Gove stepping out and back in on two occasions.

The residents of Lancaster West Estate, where Grenfell stands, were left to navigate their challenges alone, against the backdrop of their own council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, being at the heart of a criminal investigation and a key defendant, with no oversight or protection for the victims. Despite the fact that 72 of its residents had been killed in plain sight, no commissioners would ever be called in by the Tory government to oversee their Tory jewel in the crown, the royal borough.

In July 2024, I started reaching out to the next of kin of 42 of the 72 people who died in Grenfell, telling them we needed to see Rayner, the new minister. Many were sceptical: "How will this one be any different?"