The ECHO was privileged to watch on as four of the key Hillsborough family members met with the Prime Minister before heading to the House of Commons to watch the historic moment that the new law they have campaigned for was laid before Parliament
Prime Minister Keir Starmer (C) meets with Hillsborough family members Sue Roberts (L), Charlotte Hennessy (2L), Margaret Aspinall (2R) and Steve Kelly (R)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer (C) meets with Hillsborough family members Sue Roberts (L), Charlotte Hennessy (2L), Margaret Aspinall (2R) and Steve Kelly (R)
As dawn broke on the United Kingdom's most famous and most secure street, four figures emerged.
With the bright Autumn morning sun bathing Downing Street in a golden glow, Margaret Aspinall, Steve Kelly, Charlotte Hennessy and Sue Roberts strolled calmly together towards the heart of this nation's power - a nation that they have changed forever for the better. These four ordinary people never asked for these extraordinary moments, they were brought here by tragedy, by injustice and by their own relentless determination.
And make no mistake, this was an extraordinary moment.
The Prime Minister stepped out of Number 10 to greet the four Hillsborough family members, with the same respect he affords the most powerful leaders on earth. Too bloody right. No one deserves it more.
After warm embraces, the families were led inside alongside some of the campaigners and key figures who have worked tirelessly over many years to make this day - when a Hillsborough Law was to be finally laid before Parliament - a stunning, emotional reality.
As you climb the grand staircase inside number 10, the walls are adorned with all the Prime Ministers who have ruled over this country. When it comes to Hillsborough and the fight for justice, truth and real change - there are many on that wall who let these people down.
Inside the building's distinguished White Drawing Room, lined with ornate golden fixtures and historic paintings, these four normal people prepared to make history. But not before some dry Scouse humour, of course.
It was suggested that once the PM entered the room everyone would stand and embrace. "Me stand up for him? I think he should stand up for me," said Margaret Aspinall with a wry smile. After losing her 18-year-old-son James on that terrible day in 1989, she has been a formidable public face of the efforts to get to this point.
As the Prime Minister joined the families, with the ECHO privileged to be watching on, he explained why he believed it was so vital for both the legacies of the 97 Liverpool fans who were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough - and for the future of British society - that this law would come into force.
He spoke candidly of the personal battle he has faced to bring these sweeping reforms to the justice system forward. It is clear that some in the slow-moving and restrictive machine that is the British government either did not think this could work - or didn't want it to.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer greets Charlotte Hennessy (left), Sue Roberts (second left), Margaret Aspinall (second right) and Steve Kelly (right), ahead of a meeting with family members of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer greets Charlotte Hennessy (left), Sue Roberts (second left), Margaret Aspinall (second right) and Steve Kelly (right), ahead of a meeting with family members of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster
And that's not surprising. If Hillsborough has taught us anything it is that large sections of the British establishment are happy to exist in a system where they can use their power and their privilege to deny justice and truth to everyday people who have simply been unlucky enough to be caught up in something so appalling.
The fact that we even need a legally bound duty of candour to be placed on public officials - to force them to tell the truth or face criminal sanctions - tells you everything you need to know about how this system we exist in has been failing people for so long.
So there is credit for the Prime Minister and the families afforded him that. Yes he missed his anniversary deadline earlier this year and that was painful, but as the Bishop James Jones said in the room today - with his customary quiet eloquence - there have been six Prime Ministers in post since he and others began their vital work with the Hillsborough Independent panel - and only one of them has brought a Hillsborough Law to Parliament.
But that, of course, is not to say this ends here. During what was a cordial and celebratory meeting, the families still made the Prime Minister unequivocally aware that they simply will not stand for this bill being watered down as it makes its way through Parliament. They are right to be cynical, they have faced too many disappointments and have been let down too many times in the 36 years since their loved ones were unlawfully taken from them.
But the Prime Minister gave them his full throated assurances that the bill will not lose any of the power that it has today. He said everyone had come too far to see it diminished in any way. These are commitments he repeated to the press today and promises he will reaffirm when he speaks at the Labour Party Conference - fittingly in Liverpool - at the end of this month.
Before the meeting ended, the Prime Minister reminded the families of the enormity of what they have achieved. He said they - and all of those who lost loved ones on that terrible day in Sheffield - have changed the lives of thousands of people that they may never meet and he is absolutely right about that.
From Downing Street we moved to Parliament, where fellow Hillsborough Law campaigners joined the group. As Margaret Aspinall repeatedly said today, this is a law for everyone - and there were many present who had faced different forms of injustice at the hands of the state. After so many years of pain, there were smiles all around central lobby as we prepared to go and watch a moment of genuine history.
Such are the idiosyncrasies of this country's democratic processes, the families had to sit through an hour of some very complex questions about the state of the crumbling prison estate before the moment they had been waiting for arrived - but it was always going to be worth it.
The newly appointed Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy rose and explained how proud he was to be laying the new Hillsborough Law before Parliament. On the benches above him, Margaret, Charlotte, Sue, Steve and those around them looked down, with smiles stretched across their faces.
This was a moment that they and all those affected by the worst sporting disaster in British history had fought for over so many tortuous years. A moment they have all thought at some stage would never arrive. But it did arrive and that is all because of them.
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. History makers. Heroes. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.