Brown Shows Inhuman Side Over Baby P

Brown has shown his truly awful colours with a disgusting attempt to play down the tragedy of Baby P and accuse the opposition of making political capital out of this shocking case. 

The Commons bear-pit of PMQs is usually played out for the media sound-bites and point scoring but here is an issue which has genuinely shocked the whole country. There's not a living soul who isn't both shocked and disgusted by this whole case. 

Cameron was absolutely right to raise this issue in the commons with some very valid and reasonable questions. Why has no-one resigned? Why has no-one accepted responsibility and why is there only an in-house inquiry? 

There are very serious questions to be asked, not least over how this dreadful thing could happen again in the same borough as Victoria Climbie and after the Lord Laming inquiry and recommendations.

The response from Haringey children's services department, the minister for children, social workers, health visitors and hospital doctors has been verging on complacency. 

Time and gain we have had to suffer the crap of platitudes that everyone has done what they could and it was all just a terrible tragedy. No-one has had the common decency to even apologise.

The prime minister's commons response (see below) was equally robotic, uncaring and full of incomprehensible NewLabourspeak. 

Why couldn't the government come out and capture the mood of the nation - one thing Blair was very good at - however unpalatable that may be. Clearly Brown is incapable of that. The response of the prime minister wasn't human. 

Instead of reflecting that shock and outrage, he trotted out useless statistics. Then he had the audacity to accuse the Conservatives of making political capital out of the death of Baby P. 

Cameron lost it. But who can blame him. Any right thinking person would have lost it in those circumstances. It shows he's only human. 

Watching this sickening spectacle of Brown made you wish for once the Speaker Michael Martin would intervene as he often does to help dig the government of a hole. But by that time it was too late to save Brown's skin. 

It has taken a true Labour MP, Jon Cruddas, to stand up for common sense and tell the BBC the case of Baby P was "beyond politics" and "David Cameron was absolutely right to raise it."

The Baby P case shows the government up for what it really is. For years it's helped create a social services culture of political correctness and nannying with the laudable but laughable aim "putting the family first". 

It is quite clear to everyone they should put "the protection of children" first and make sure robust management is in place with well-qualified staff to see that through, as Lord Laming recommended. 

There's something very wrong and disturbing to have a government whose child protection policy has been exposed as a sham. And which has created social, now children's services departments incapable of action and suffering a woeful lack of staffing and resources. 

Maybe that's why Brown couldn't deliver a more human response.

UPDATE: Schools secretary Ed Balls popped up with a surprise announcement of an independent inspection of children's welfare services at Haringey - just before the evening TV news bulletins. Now that's playing politics!