Cameron's clash with Brown over death of Baby P

The Tory leader led calls for a full independent inquiry into the blunders that allowed the 17-month-old boy to be battered to death while on the at-risk register of Haringey Council, north London.

And he was enraged when the Prime Minister accused him of trying to exploit the child’s death for “party political” purposes.

As the clash descended into personal abuse, MPs had to be repeatedly reminded by Speaker Michael Martin that the appalling death of a youngster was the issue at stake.

Last night, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls bowed to pressure by announcing that an inquiry by a hit squad of child protection experts will be launched urgently.

He indicated that senior staff faced the sack because of “evidence of poor quality practice, management and supervision of staff in all agencies” and demanded delivery of the inspectors’ report by December 1.

Mr Balls said: “It is our duty to take whatever action is needed to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again, that lessons are learned and that children in Haringey are safe.”

But it also emerged that six months after the death of Baby P, Haringey Council’s head of children’s services heaped praise on her staff and refused calls for a review into the tragedy.

Sharon Shoesmith said a review was not necessary in documents revealed by the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition.

“In the light of the good performance, a full scrutiny review would not be beneficial or add value to the service,” she wrote.

Mr Balls’s emergency announcement failed to dissipate the rancorous atmosphere at Westminster. Even Labour MPs admitted Mr Brown had blundered in his furious reaction to the Tory leader’s questioning.

Baby P, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered more than 50 injuries including a broken back in the worst child abuse case since the death of Victoria Climbié.

The boy’s mother admitted causing his death, while her boyfriend and a lodger were convicted of the same offence on Tuesday.

Tory insiders said the case had revolted Mr Cameron, who is the father of three young children. It had particularly disgusted his wife Samantha.

In a hard-hitting newspaper article yesterday, Mr Cameron vented fury over the failure of Haringey Council social services to detect neglect despite 60 visits by social workers and health visitors. He called for senior staff to be sacked.

He wrote: “We’ve had a raft of excuses and not one apology. The buck has to stop somewhere.”

His anger was clearly visible as he raised the case in the Commons, expressing concern that Haringey Council’s inquiry was being led by its own director of children’s services, Sharon Shoesmith. “She cannot possibly investigate the failure of her own department,” the Tory leader said.

Mr Cameron pressed the point, but his question was dismissed by the Prime Minister, who provoked uproar by saying: “I do regret making a party political issue of this matter.”

Tory MPs shouted: “Cheap”, “Shame” and “Withdraw” in response to the remark.

Furious Mr Cameron told him: “I think that what the Prime Minister said just now was, frankly, cheap.

“I asked perfectly reasonable questions about a process that is wrong, and I would ask the Prime Minister to withdraw the attack that it was about party politics.”

Mr Cameron repeatedly called for the slur to be withdrawn, but Mr Brown refused.

“There is common ground on both sides of the House, and we should maximise our agreement on these issues about this very sad and tragic case,” he said.