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Christine Pratt, head of the National Bullying Helpline says she's had calls from staff at no.10 and has gone public to say so.
"Why should the head of a supposedly confidential service go public?" asks indignant Labour toady MP Anne Snelgrove. The answer is that the allegations from other sources are being vehemently denied by Gordon Brown and his political friends. Until there is an admission at the top that there are problems then the poor treatment of staff won't stop.
Oh well, they only have to tough it out until May before he's gone.
I and Creature read that Christine Pratt, per the BBC, said her helpline had received 'three or four calls over three or four years' from the relevant staff.   (I can't find the source for this, I think it was in the original BBC story but I'm not sure)

That's one call a year.   Does this prove there are issues in 10 Downing Street?

Meanwhile

Ms Pratt, chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, has also been criticised by another charity, Bullying UK, which said it was "horrified" she had "all but identified" one caller in media interviews.

"It's hard to imagine a more serious breach of confidentiality," it said on its website.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8527881.stm

So there you go.   Who do you believe?

However, they might all be Civil Service jobsworths .......... useless ............ can't take a bit of well-deserved shaking up .............. etc etc

FWIW I think Big Gordie is a bully.   Lord Peter Mandyson has said he is 'very demanding', and if you were the SUBL being demanded of, you might well not be too bothered about the distinction between that and being bullied.

Wergh.
There's more than meets the eye to the National Bullying helpline

http://thebullyinghelpline.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-not-to-ask-for-independent.html

In summary: the people who run it also run a "mediation/independent investigations" business from the same address. If you ring up and complain about being bullied at work they'll ask for details about your workplace and employers and tell you to sign up with the second business to help stop the bullying. The second business then goes to the employer and tells them what's going on, and tell them that, if hired as mediators, they'll talk the victim out of taking legal action or going to a tribunal. After the victim has referred the second company to their workplace everything else happens behind their backs and the victim is uaually the one who gets screwed. The whole charity is just a front for business 2.

And they don't seem too happy with criticism either, after the above blog started investigating and writing about this stuff the NBH added a webpage about "cyberbullying"

http://www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/law.htm

Which looks all well and good at first, but if you know the background they're obviously using their power to have a go at anyone who may start up blogs criticising them.

"If an individual writes a blog about your organisation, or harasses someone under the guise of a blog in an attempt to try to convince others that they are a victim of circumstance, they are probably delusional. "


And then it's just a bit of a rant about how the people who do this are obviously "sad, lonely, mentally unstable individuals and often lone-workers - incapable of separating fact from fiction."


Also, there's a big Tory presence involved in the running of this thing, and they picked a pretty convenient time to break confidentiality and decide we had a right to know.
Interesting, Xoco!  

Must say I do find it highly unprofessional and quite pernicious to betray confidentiality in such a manner.
It is known that the office at No. 10 has been investigated for workplace bullying, although not necessarily from the PM. Mandelson has denied that any bullying has taken place there, which means he is either mistaken or lying.

Lifted from the BBC's Nick Robinson's Blog:


HANSARD 4 MARCH 2009

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff in (a) the Prime Minister’s Office and (b) the Leader of the House’s Office were disciplined for (i) bullying and (ii) harassment of colleagues in each of the last three years. [254077]

Mr. Watson: It is not the policy of the Cabinet Office to release personal data relating to individual staff. I can confirm that in the period specified, there were fewer than five cases in the Department where staff were disciplined for bullying and harassment of colleagues. It would not be appropriate to provide a further breakdown.


As for the PM, I'm not sure which is the more scary prospect, that of him losing his rag in a temper tantrum or gurning his face up in that rictus he thinks is a smile.
Interesting that the helpline may have an agenda of it's own. It seemed very odd the way they got involved.

My feeling is the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It wouldn't surprise me really if Gordon Brown was losing his temper since he seems to be losing everything else. On the other hand I've noticed that these days a sharp word makes people fall apart and run to report someone. I think we must have been made of sterner stuff in my day.
"Oh, wait, you thought I was accusing Gordon Brown of bullying? Oh however did you get a silly idea like that? Just because I told everyone my charity had had complaints from no10 and made it public the same day people were reporting Brown's temper tantrums. Well since you ask, no, none of the were about Gordon Brown."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8531377.stm
Yes, some frantic backpeddling here by the rather aptly named Ms Pratt, although the original author who broke the story is still standing by his claims.
However there are more reports of toys being thrown out of the pram from number 10, this time by Alistair Darling. Extraordinary...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8533168.stm
Curiously, the PM's poll ratings have climbed since this story broke. Perhaps the electorate like the idea of our leader kicking some civil service butts from time to time.
Having met the Prime Minister, I can say....

.. well nothing much to add actually  :lol  I just wanted to slide in 'when I met the Prime Minister' for the umpteenth time  :D
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