Mayor: Hodge wrong to ignore abuse warnings

Ken Livingstone today intervened in the furore surrounding the appointment of Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children.

Mrs Hodge's appointment has been criticised because she was the Labour leader of Islington council in the Eighties when it was caught up in a major child abuse scandal.

Speaking at City Hall, the Mayor said: "I think Margaret Hodge was fundamentally wrong not to take the warning and investigate it immediately.

"Whether that is now sufficiently in the past is a matter for the Prime Minister."

Mrs Hodge also came under attack from the Tories today. She was due to talk to local government leaders about the delayed Green Paper on child protection policy.

Shadow children's minister Eleanor Laing said: "It would be outrageous if the minister was revealing parts of the Green Paper in speeches before announcing them in the Commons."

Mrs Laing is planning to ask Speaker Michael Martin to call Mrs Hodge to the Commons for an emergency statement on the policy paper.