Comment: Beating the bullies
Gordon Brown has faced a weekend of damaging allegations
Sunday, 21, Feb 2010 08:26
By Matthew Champion.
It's one thing for a prime minister to be accused of bullying by a journalist with a book to sell, but it's another for a bullying helpline that quotes David Cameron on the front page of its website to ignore caller confidentiality and wade into the row.
Christine Pratt, the chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, appears to have sought out the BBC to reveal that "three or four" calls were received from Gordon Brown's office in as many years.
The information is, has been pointed out, not entirely new. But the timing is staggering.
Downing St appeared to have outmanoeuvred Andrew Rawnsley and the Observer, which is serialising extracts from his new book The End of the Party, by floating exaggerated rumours about its contents, which led to the amazing spectacle of the prime minister denying in a televised interview that he had ever hit anyone.
As it transpired the allegations in the Observer this morning amounted to not a lot more than Brown has a temper and a stressful job.
It appears that Lord Mandelson's outright denial of allegations Brown was a bully on the Andrew Marr show was enough to prompt Christine Pratt to stick her head above the parapet and apparently break a founding principle of the charity she set up in 2002 and every other helpline before it - caller confidentiality and anonymity.
"Your call is confidential to us and you will be treated with dignity and respect at all times," a message on the charity's website says.
There are lots of other quotes on the website, like this one from Anne Widdecombe: "I very much hope your project is successful because I think that where genuine bullying is taking place the mental stress can be very serious, and a poisoned atmosphere in a working or learning environment can take all the joy out of each and every day."
There's also another, from Widdecombe's party leader David Cameron: "Stamping out bullying in the workplace and elsewhere is a vital objective. Not only can bullying make people's lives a misery, but it harms business and wider society too. So I congratulate the National Bullying Helpline for its efforts to give practical support to those being bullied, and to make bullying a thing of the past."
Christine Pratt told the BBC that she was not suggesting the prime minister was a bully, just as her website says it will not treat every caller as a victim.
It might also later transpire that she had the express written permission of callers to practically reveal their identities to the BBC.
Bullying is a serious problem and impossible to condone. But how many victims has the chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline discouraged from talking about their problem today?
John Carnell, chief executive officer of charity Bullying UK told inthenews.co.uk he was "horrified" at the comments from Christine Pratt.
"It's a breach of confidentiality for an anti-bullying charity to reveal details like this where such a small number of people could be involved and potentially identified," he said.
"It will deter other people from coming forward for help if they think the National Bullying Helpline is going to splash their employer's name all over the media."
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