The National Bullying Helpline was suspended on Wednesday amid a row after chief executive Christine Pratt said staff from No 10 had contacted her.
Ms Pratt was widely criticised for going public in what to some was seen as a cynical ploy to boost awareness, to others a naive reaction to Lord Mandelson’s challenges and to others a carefully choreographed Tory attack on Gordon Brown. She has since offered to resign.
Ms Pratt spoke out last weekend following allegations in a book about Gordon Brown’s temper and behaviour towards staff. But Pratt has been condemned by PROs and the media for breaching the confidentiality of her helpline’s users.
In an email to PRWeek, which may well have already been carefully crafted by her new advisor, Max Clifford, Pratt wrote: ‘I write this in tears as I no longer know what to do or say for the best. Whatever I do, someone will be hurt. I did not set up a helpline with any intention of causing distress to others.’
She added: ‘I am unable to talk to you at this time. I am sorry.’ It is interesting to see that Ms Pratt has now put the barriers up and is doubtless fending off further media requests as I write and I wonder whether the tide will eventually turn away from her back onto the other parties (small “p”) in the form of Mr Brown and Mr Cameron.
Many of my colleagues in the PR world think that the accusations of bullying from Brown will have little or no effect on the opinion polls, with Brown described as a “Marmite character” by Wolfstar co-founder Stuart Bruce.
So, one wonders where that leaves Mr Cameron and the Tories. He has been pretty careful not to wade too far into the furore thus far, perhaps suspecting that some members of the media and the general public may smell a rat. However, if there is zero Tory involvement it doesn’t bode well for their image that the “whiff in the air”, as spotted by the sensitive nostrils of Lord Mandelson could be believed in the first place.
The whole story “whiffs” of mistrust. Mistrust of the bullying helpline to keep schtum on sensitive issues, mistrust of the PRs (real or not) lurking in the background around the motives for Ms Pratt’s first ill-advised comments, mistrust of the Prime Minister and Number 10’s culture and mistrust of David Cameron and his ability to make political capital out of any situation.
Whether any of these allegations are true or not is almost irrelevant now. The general public loves a good witch hunt and the media loves to provide it. Who comes out on top may well be the one who keeps a respectable distance from this unfortunate affair.
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I think that calling in Max Clifford is perhaps a good move by Ms Pratt. Not only for his advice but for the message that it brings with it – “I am naive and I need help”. Politically, unless a Tory plot is uncovered, this will blow over. However, the future for the National Bullying Helpline is far less sure. That brand is now tarnished and all of the good work done to date has been undermined by poor PR management. The real victims of this are not named above – that is the way it should have been from the start.