Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

The senior council officer at the centre of the Baby P tragedy will come under intense pressure to resign from her £110,000-a-year job tomorrow, when a report by national inspectors into the failings of Haringey council is presented to the children's secretary Ed Balls.

Westminster sources said they believed that Sharon Shoesmith, the council's director of children's services, would either quit 'quietly' of her own accord, or be put under such pressure to leave by government and opposition politicians that she would have no option but to go...

The Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, who was a Haringey councillor at the time of the Climbié case, and whose Hornsey and Wood Green constituency covers part of the borough, said that Shoesmith had to stand down or be ousted. 'She has to go. We cannot have a new start and restore faith in our social services when those who were responsible remain in charge.'

Robert Gorrie, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Haringey Council, says Shoesmith should not receive a 'cosy deal'. 'This needs to be done in a way inwhich we are not seeing payment for failure,' he said. 'If people are found to have failed in this crisis, we should not be negotiating deals under which they go quietly with a large pay-off.'

Labels: baby p, haringey council, robert gorrie, sharon shoesmith

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