Shoesmith: Sometimes I wish I’d quit
By Ian Dunt
Sharon Shoesmith, the woman who lost her job as head of Haringey children’s services over the Baby P scandal, has said she sometimes regrets not quitting when the news broke.
But speaking to the Commons education committee she said it would have been “cynical” to have quit when the story of Baby P was revealed.
Asked if she had learned any lessons from the affair, she answered: “That’s one hell of a question given what I’ve experiences and dealt with – death threats and so on and come back from the brink.
“When I heard the news the cynical me and the cynical view would have been jump then, but I didn’t because I was always very committed to Haringey. I worked very hard for the borough. I could have gone, and sometimes I think why didn’t I?
“In terms of the case I had no contact with the case at all, I had no contact with the case directly.
“The issues that social care staff were managing were huge, way beyond the imagination of the public.”
Ms Shoesmith became something of a hate figure for the tabloid press in the wake of the Baby P scandal before eventually being sacked by Haringey council.
