£19,000 spent on spin doctor for care chief

HARINGEY council spent £19,000 on spin doctors hired to rebuild the image of former head of children's services Sharon Shoesmith, it emerged today.

The money was used to train her and other colleagues on how to answer probing questions from journalists following the Baby P tragedy.

The 55-year-old, who was suspended last week but who is still picking up her £110,000 salary, was given role-play exercises by up to three external firms as part of the package - even though Haringey has its own communications team.

This came after she twice refused to apologise at a press conference for her department's failure to save the 17-month-old who was tortured to death by his mother, stepfather and a lodger.

Lib-Dem MP Lynne Featherstone said: "It is absolutely outrageous that this money has been wasted on spin doctors. Every penny of this cash would have been better spent on improving our children's services." The spending was revealed in a written question tabled by the Lib-Dems to council leader George Meehan before he resigned.