Bullying expert quits over Downing Street claims

Professor Cary Cooper, a celebrated expert on workplace stress, said he had sent an email to Christine Pratt in the previous hour telling her he was resigning as a patron of the National Bullying Helpline.

He said: "I am resigning now on the grounds that I think she breached confidentiality.

"One of the things that is really important for any helpline or any counselling service is to retain confidentiality of the people calling up."

Prof Cooper's move comes after Mrs Pratt, the founder of the National Bullying Helpline, revealed yesterday that its helpline had received several calls from Downing Street.

Prof Cooper said that although Mrs Pratt had not revealed names, she had disclosed the identity of the employer.

"She did not reveal any names, but that is irrelevant. She is revealing the employer, which is No 10," he said.

"I just think that is wholly wrong and inappropriate. You don't do that. I can no longer be a patron."

He added: "The point I am trying to make is that there is no way - any helpline or counselling service giving advice to people - do you reveal anything into the public arena about it.

"I am involved in a range of charities, none of whom do that kind of thing. It is not the way you behave."

He added: "Even though the names may not be revealed, particularly with something like bullying ... an employer could maybe find out who they were."

Prof Cooper revealed that he told Mrs Pratt of his intention of resigning last night but she had asked him to "sleep on it".

"I had already made my mind up, there was no way... she told me to sleep on it. I said I will sleep on it but I knew what I was going to do," he said.

Prof Cooper's resignation as patron of the charity came as Mrs Pratt was forced to repeatedly defend herself against allegations of political bias and of breaching the trust of complainants since going public with her comments.

Former home secretary Jacqui Smith confirmed that she wrote to the National Bullying Helpline yesterday, sending a copy to the charity's patron, Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe.

Ms Smith's letter read: "I am writing to express my absolute amazement that you have so comprehensively breached the commitment made on your website to treat calls as confidential and to respect the dignity of those who use your service.

"The public statements of your chief executive about receiving calls from members of the Prime Minister's office drive a coach and horses through your confidentiality and impartiality policies.

"I have previously advised constituents facing difficult bullying situations about your service. I will never do that again!"

But Mrs Pratt denied allegations of breaching confidentiality, insisting she had taken her decision to speak out as a result of a statement of denial issued by Downing Street over the claims of bullying.

Speaking on GMTV, she 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 row stems from revelations in a book by Observer political commentator Andrew Rawnsley that include accounts of Mr Brown pulling a secretary from her chair, "roughly shoving" an aide, and four-letter word rants that frightened staff.

In extracts published yesterday by the newspaper, Mr Rawnsley said Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell was so concerned that he delivered a "verbal warning" to the Prime Minister - a claim the Cabinet Office said was "completely untrue".

Mr Rawnsley said he was "100% sure", based on first-hand evidence, that Sir Gus had looked into Mr Brown's behaviour and personally warned him to calm down.

Downing Street denied the "malicious" allegations and Lord Mandelson said: "I don't think he so much bullies people as he is very demanding of people.

"There is a degree of impatience about the man but what would you like, some sort of shrinking violet at the helm of the Government when we are going through such stormy waters?"

Lord Mandelson said the Prime Minister could be emotional and demanding but was not a bully.

Mrs Pratt accused ministers of failing staff by "going into denial" over the claims.

She said: "I saw the Lord Mandelson statement that had a categorical denial that bullying was going on in Gordon Brown's office. I saw red."

She alleges that the charity has received a number of calls and emails from concerned Downing Street staff, including one in recent months.

Downing Street retorted that it had not been contacted by the charity and insisted it had "rigorous, well-established procedures in place to allow any member of staff to address any concerns over inappropriate treatment or behaviour".

Mrs Pratt is now embroiled in allegations that her charity is too close to the Tories.

Miss Widdecombe is a patron of the charity, but has aired concern over Mrs Pratt going public with the details of calls.

The revelation that Mrs Pratt has been in contact with local Conservative MPs will add to the claims of political bias.

Mrs Pratt said she had been "bombarded" with messages, including one from an MP which left her feeling "slightly intimidated".

She told Sky News: "We are being bombarded with emails and we are in receipt of a fairly strong emotional letter from one MP which does surprise us.

"We do feel slightly intimidated by that and we would have expected in the circumstance certainly not to receive a letter of that nature."

Mrs Pratt, who said yesterday that her organisation received three or four calls from No 10, said she still did not know exactly how many calls they had taken.

"I knew that there were two from the Deputy Prime Minister's office and another two or more from the PM's office. The number is irrelevant," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

She acknowledged none of the calls referred to claims of bullying by Mr Brown himself.

"Absolutely not, and nor have we said that Gordon Brown is a bully. Our concern here is the public statement from No 10 of denial ... we would just want Gordon Brown and No 10 to lead by example.

"We would have hoped that Gordon Brown would have said that he was looking into this, that due process was being followed, and that he takes these issues seriously."

Mrs Pratt defended the operation of her helpline in the face of accusations that she had used it as a means of "angling for business" for a human resources consultancy run by her husband.

She acknowledged they did offer to refer callers to the consultancy, but insisted the arrangement had been properly approved.

"It is actually done under an agreement that has been approved by the Law Society. It has been thoroughly vetted," she said.

Her remarks came as Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, who helped Mrs Pratt launch the helpline, said today she severed her links with her after receiving complaints in 2008 about the way the helpline had referred calls to her husband's consultancy.

"The reason I severed my links with them was because Christine would not come and talk to me," Ms Snelgrove, who is now Mr Brown's parliamentary private secretary, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"I asked Christine to come for a private meeting with me to discuss those and I am afraid that she would not do that. She wanted to bring lawyers and she wanted to bring her trustees."

Mrs Pratt denied refusing to meet Ms Snelgrove, although she acknowledged she had wanted to take two of the charity's trustees with her.

She in turn accused the MP of rejecting an offer to visit the charity to see for herself how it was operating.

"We did not refuse to go to see Anne. I offered to go to see Anne accompanied by two of my trustees," she told the Today programme.

"I am dismayed that she has rejected invites to our charity's offices to come and see how we operate."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called on Downing Street to clear up exactly what had been going on behind closed doors at No 10.

"The allegations that junior staff, voiceless staff, have been going to a national bullying hotline seems to me to be very important," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"Bullying is wrong, it is totally out of order in whatever walk of life you work, however important you are.

"In politics, how you behave behind closed doors - even the great closed doors of No 10 - how you behave once the cameras are switched off, does kind of matter, so I do think this does need to be cleared up by No 10.

"We have just had a weekend where Gordon Brown has said that he wants to deliver fairness to everybody and now he is facing very serious allegations that he is not being fair at all to the people working closest to him."

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott sent out a message on his Twitter feed claiming that Mrs Pratt's allegations were "a publicity stunt for her company".

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "As far as the Prime Minister is concerned, Mrs Pratt has said there were no allegations about the Prime Minister and she has made that clear consistently.

"We don't know any detail of what has been suggested by Mrs Pratt and I don't think it is appropriate to make any further comment at this stage."

The spokesman said Downing Street had received no approaches from the bullying helpline about the supposed allegations.

He said the Civil Service had a "zero tolerance" attitude to bullying and added that there were processes in place should any complaint arise.

The spokesman said: "There are no current grievances or procedures under way in No 10 or the Cabinet Office."

Liz Carnell, director of the charity Bullying UK, said she was "horrified" by Mrs Pratt's decision to go public with complaints made to her helpline.

"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.

"It's hard to imagine a more serious breach of confidentiality... We're disgusted and upset and we're writing to the Charity Commission today to complain about the National Bullying Helpline.

"In the meantime, we suggest Mrs Pratt considers her position, given the damage she has caused to the anti-bullying sector, where confidentiality is paramount."

Asked how Mr Brown had responded to the bullying allegations, the PM's spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has been getting on with the important business today of hosting one of the most important investment conferences this country has ever seen.

"He has a very busy agenda. He is focusing on an education speech he is making tomorrow."

Asked whether Mr Brown had ever raised his voice to him personally, the spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has spirited discussions with lots of colleagues, including me.

"I personally find the Prime Minister a very engaging and interesting person to work with.

"For everyone in Number 10, it is a privilege to work there... Everyone who walks through that door each morning feels that."

The spokesman restated Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell's denials that he had launched an investigation into allegations of bullying by the Prime Minister or had issued him with a verbal warning.

But he declined to go into further detail about whether Sir Gus had ever mentioned Mr Brown's behaviour towards staff in private conversations.

"The role of the Cabinet Secretary is to ensure the Civil Service supports the Prime Minister to the best effect and that the Prime Minister is getting the best out of the Civil Service," said the spokesman. "They have lots of discussions about lots of things."

A Charity Commission statement said: "A number of issues have been raised over the weekend concerning the charity National Bullying Helpline - registered charity no 1117852 - and the Charity Commission has received a number of complaints.

"We are considering these to see which may fall within our remit.

"We will be contacting the charity for further information."