'Whitewash' protests as Baby P councillors hang on to their jobs

Council leader George Meehan and Liz Santry, the Cabinet member for Children and Young People, kept their jobs despite attempts to hold a vote of no confidence at a highly charged meeting last night.

Opposition councillors branded the meeting "a whitewash" after the majority Labour group passed an amendment to prevent the vote from taking place.

Members of the public also heckled the ruling Labour group, branding them "murderers", during the tense, three-hour meeting.

Liberal Democrat leader Robert Gorrie had called for a vote of no confidence in the pair, urging them to resign to restore public confidence in Haringey council.

But the Labour group by-passed the vote, instead pledging to act on recommendations of a government review into children's services in the borough. Mr Gorrie called the outcome "a travesty" and said the council was failing to admit its responsibility in Baby P's death.

He said: "How can there be a restored confidence, how can we rebuild Haringey's shattered reputation if the same people remain in charge? It is a travesty. We are back where we were in 2003 following the Victoria Climbie tragedy - it is a whitewash.

"People right across the county will share our dismay and disgust that the people running Haringey council will not take responsibility for this tragedy."

Some Labour members are believed to have been furious at their leadership for failing to apologise quickly enough following Baby P's death.

A council source said: "Some are angry with their leadership. What happened in the vote was expected. But it's disgusting."

Earlier in the meeting Ms Santry apologised for the council's response.

She said: "I do wish we had apologised earlier. I should like to offer my personal apologies and condolences to Baby P's father. Our duty is to protect our children and this we failed to do."

But she resisted calls for a public inquiry, saying it would delay implementing the changes to improve Haringey's children's services.

The meeting was constantly interrupted by heckling. Some protesters shouted "Shame on Haringey" as they stormed out of the gallery in disgust.

One Liberal Democrat councillor, John Oakes, said the borough's social services had a historic habit of not cooperating with police.

He said: "A notice appeared in a social services office in this borough saying, 'This office does not talk to police.' That principle is still alive and well in Haringey today."

Matt Cooke, chairman of Haringey Labour group, said Ms Santry could still resign.

"We will do what it takes to restore public confidence. The public demands accountability for what has happened and that is absolutely right," he said.

Baby P died in August last year despite 60 visits from the authorities over eight months, during which he suffered more than 50 injuries.