Sacked Baby P chief blasts minister

Sharon Shoesmith, 55, said it had led to a "national catastrophe" and she accused Schools Secretary Ed Balls of seriously setting back efforts to improve the reputation of social work.

In an interview with The Guardian she also revealed that she had contemplated suicide - and said she had been left with nothing, rejecting suggestions she enjoyed a huge pension.

But Mr Balls insisted he had acted to "put the safety of children first" and would do the same thing again faced with the same situation again.

He removed Ms Shoesmith from her post on December 1 after inspectors concluded the local authority's child protection services were "inadequate" and identified "serious concerns".

The former senior officer failed in an appeal to councillors to reverse the sacking.

She told the newspaper she had been "shocked" at how fast the death of the 17-month-old boy became a party political issue, both locally and nationally.

"I just think it's a huge travesty for Haringey and if there's anything I want to say it's that they deserve much better than this, because I know who the people are and how they've worked and how they've achieved, and it just has been deeply reckless, breathtakingly reckless."

The level of criticism in an Ofsted report had taken her by surprise, she said.

Ms Shoesmith's objections are that the Ofsted inspectors' reference to a conflict of interest discredits her; no feedback was allowed, as is usually the case.