BABY P AND THE MINISTER

Ed Balls thinks he made the right decision. But Ms Shoesmith, Haringey’s former Director of Children’s Services, is taking her case to an Employment Tribunal and is also seeking a Judicial Review of the events leading to her dismissal. Her advisers evidently think there is at least a scintilla of doubt about the legitimacy of what was done. Why does Mr Balls feel the need to go on defending his decision in public?

Watch this space.

Diogenes

BABY P: SHOESMITH SACKED, ED BALLS ESCAPES

If Baby P had died in Austria the Minister would have resigned, says our man in Vienna. In England, I patiently explain, children and families are a local responsibility so if anything goes wrong one or two councillors step down and it’s the Director’s head which rolls.

But surely it was Secretary of State Ed Balls who fired Ms Shoesmith? His prints are there. Doesn’t that mean he is responsible, and that he should carry the can when things went wrong?

Or is this a new version of the old story?  The story of power without responsibility, the prerogative as Kipling put it of the harlot throughout the ages.

Diogenes

Baby P: not one victim but two

How did you feel when you heard about Baby P? Shock and horror, without doubt, that a child could be treated so in 21st century Britain.  Incredulity, perhaps, at reports that Haringey’s director of children’s services said no social worker was to blame; all the proper protocols had been observed.

The Secretary of State removed Sharon Shoesmith from her post, Haringey Council dismissed her summarily with no compensation.  The council rejected her appeal.

Blameless career in tatters

Her hitherto distinguished and apparently blameless career is in tatters.  Once one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools and then Haringey’s director of education until the same council made her their director of children’s services.  Now disgraced and out of work. 

Is she to blame or is she as much a victim as baby P? Victim of an extraordinary national penchant for creating impossible jobs and then being surprised when things go wrong.