Was Sharon Shoesmith's sacking a politicaly motivated?

Balls-Up thought he would gain a few brownie points by getting her sacked and as usual with him now it's all back fired and the taxpayer will pick up the tag as usual. This is the man who aspires to be Chancellor (and we thought Brown was bad). Shoesmith obviously never thought while drawing her pay that the head of a department has responsibility for it so in that aspect she and Balls-Up were exactly the same.