Man who led review into Manchester Arena attack Lord Bob Kerslake dead at 68

Tributes have been paid to the man who led the first review into the Manchester Arena bombing - Lord Robert Kerslake - after his family announced his death aged 68.

Lord Kerslake, known as Bob, died on Saturday after “a short battle with cancer”, his “devastated” sister Ros Kerslake CBE said in a post on social media on Sunday morning

Senior Labour Party figures including its leader Sir Keir Starmer, deputy leader Angela Rayner, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and mayor of London Sadiq Khan were among those who paid their respects to the crossbench peer.

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Formerly head of the UK Cviil service, he was nominated for a peerage by David Cameron and ennobled following his retirement as permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, with the peerage being conferred by the late Queen in 2015.

Lord Kerslake was also a chairman of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London but he quit the role in 2017, warning that the health service could not continue “staggering along” under the current funding levels.

In July 2017 he was appointed by the region's mayor Andy Burnham as the chair of an independent review into the atrocitiy at the Arena in May that year, tasked with examining Greater Manchester's preparedness for and emergency response to the attack.

The results of the investigation, commonly referred to as the Kerslake Report, were published in March 2018. The chair of the public inquiry into the bombing Sir John Saunders thanked him for the review and said it had assisted him with his investigation which he said 'built on his review.'

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