ABSTRACT
The decision to order a public inquiry into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster was at the discretion of the Home Office. The division of the LJ Taylor public inquiry into two parts, the Interim and Final, meant that much political attention was focused on the higher status final report, which broadened its approach to include hooliganism. Less attention was paid by politicians and the media to the in-depth and wide ranging 1989 Interim Report. This report focused on the immediate and longer-term causes of the disaster and severely criticised the police, the club and the local authority, although evidence presented was not recorded in the report.
