Conservative leader David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat counterpart Nick Clegg have called on No 10 Downing Street today to examine allegations of bullying of staff.
Their calls were sparked by claims from the founder of an anti-bullying charity that her helpline had received calls from Downing Street staff complaining of the way they were treated.
But First Secretary Lord Mandelson has dismissed calls for an inquiry, claiming they were part of a “political operation” to undermine Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The row follows the decision of the founder of the National Bullying Helpline, Christine Pratt, to come forward to reveal Downing Street staff had directly contacted her organisation within the last three months.
Ms Pratt’s decision to go public with the complaints has led to protests from other anti-bullying campaigners.
Professor Cary Cooper, a renowned expert on workplace stress, today resigned as a patron of the National Bullying Helpline. “I am resigning now on the grounds that I think [Ms Pratt] breached confidentiality," he said.“One of the things that is really important for any helpline or any counselling service is to retain confidentiality of the people calling up."
Lord Mandelson today accused Conservative press officers of guiding journalists towards Ms Pratt in the assumption that she had “some fuel to throw on this fire”.
But he was accused in turn by the Conservatives of trying to “smear” Ms Pratt by wrongly portraying her as a political stooge.
Downing Street insisted that there was a “zero tolerance” approach to bullying in the civil service, and that there were no grievance procedures under way in relation to Number 10 or the Cabinet Office at present.
Ms Pratt spoke out following the publication of extracts of a book by Andrew Rawnsley - The End of the Party - that included accounts of Mr Brown pulling a secretary from her chair, "roughly shoving" an aide, and four-letter-word rants that frightened staff.
She said she “saw red” after Lord Mandelson issued a categorical denial of bullying in Mr Brown’s office. But she acknowledged that none referred to claims of bullying by Mr Brown himself.
Ms Pratt said she felt "slightly intimidated" by some of the reaction she had received to her allegations, including an email from former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith accusing her of having "comprehensively breached" her duty of confidentiality towards callers.
Speaking on GMTV, Ms Pratt said: "We haven't breached confidentiality and we wouldn't do that." She added: "There is no political edge at all. We are a non-political organisation."
The director of the charity Bullying UK, Liz Carnell, also expressed concern at Ms Pratt’s apparent breach of confidentiality and said she would be complaining to the Charity Commission. “Gordon Brown’s office is small and the National Bullying Helpline’s comment will almost certainly identify this person who turned to the helpline in despair,” said Ms Carnell.
“We suggest Ms Pratt considers her position, given the damage she has caused to the anti-bullying sector, where confidentiality is paramount.”
The Charity Commission said it had received a number of complaints about the National Bullying Helpline over the weekend and was considering them to see whether they fell into its remit. “We will be contacting the charity for further information,” said the Commission in a statement.
Mr Cameron called today for an inquiry into the bullying allegations by Sir Philip Mawer, who polices the ministerial code.
Speaking at an event in London, the Tory leader said: “These are very serious matters. I’m sure that Number 10 Downing Street and the civil service in some way will want to have some sort of inquiry to get to the bottom of what has happened here.
“To me, all of this just says we need to get on, have a general election and have a fresh start.”
PA/Reuters