> my guess is if the tower wasn't in the richest neighborhood of London, the council wouldn't give a shit about its insulation and energy savings
This seems backward to me - why do you think a council with more financial pressure care less about their bottom line, and a council with less financial pressure care more?
As a resident of RBKC, I can tell you that this was literally never an issue in local elections before Grenfell. Issues people really cared about were things like people driving Ferraris/Lambourghinis with the silencers/mufflers removed down residential streets late at night.
This seems backward to me - why do you think a council with more financial pressure care less about their bottom line, and a council with less financial pressure care more?