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Cameron clashes with Brown over scandal of Baby P
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor12 Nov 2008
DAVID CAMERON'S anger at the death of Baby P spilled over in the Commons today as he demanded Gordon Brown order an independent inquiry into the tragedy.
The Tory leader slammed the Prime Minister for his repeated refusal to say whether a full inquiry would be called into the Haringey scandal.
But tempers frayed even further when Mr Brown accused Mr Cameron of playing party politics with the issue. Mr Cameron countered that the Premier was being "cheap", while ranks of Tory MPs shouted for Mr Brown to withdraw his accusation.
Mr Brown said the tragic death "raises serious questions that we have to address" and promised the Government would take action after receiving a report today from Haringey council, which identified "weaknesses" in procedures.
Mr Brown suggested that Children's Secretary Ed Balls would today look at what further could be done in particular in relation to Haringey He said: "The full report has now arrived with the Children's Secretary. It is now for the Government to take action."
But Mr Cameron said the local review "cannot possibly" be undertaken by the council's own children's services director, Sharon Shoesmith. He also slammed the fact that Ms Shoesmith was earning £100,000 a year and yet had failed to offer an apology over the death.
It later emerged that she had commissioned the "serious case review" into the case but had not written it. The Department for Children, Schools and Families said that Mr Cameron had "got his facts wrong" because the local review had been conducted by a firm of independent experts.
The Tory leader had been due to ask questions about the economy but he became so angry with Mr Brown that he decided to stick solely to the Haringey case. Speaker Michael Martin had to intervene repeatedly, appealing for both sides to be quiet and let the two party leaders speak.
Reader views (2)
Gordon Brown and the back-benchers behaved disgustingly; he trying to score political points off Cameron and they for trying to silence him with barracking. Brown should have used his position to lead the country in his disgust, but in the event he couldn't resist politicising this little child's appalling death.
- Mrs Sheila Jones, Offenham, Evesham, UK, 12/11/2008 17:30
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The truth is that there are no depths that Cameron will not sink to in order to get a cheap headline. The truth be known, if a Tory Government was in power they would be busy cutting the funding of these services.
- Phil, Guildford Surrey, 12/11/2008 15:25
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