近日，有消息稱英國首相布朗手下的員工曾經多次撥打“全國反欺凌熱線”反應在唐寧街10號遭到布朗的粗暴對待。《觀察家報》也于21日刊登該報政治評論員的書摘，指出布朗在言行上粗暴對待員工，并稱國務大臣奧唐奈得知此事后相當不安，隨即對此展開調查，要求布朗注意自己的行為。布朗內閣辦公廳當天立即發表聲明，嚴正否認奧唐奈曾經調查或警告布朗。布朗也堅決表示自己從來沒有打過任何人。英國商務大臣曼德爾森坦言布朗某種程度上是不太耐心，不過并不會欺凌別人。他替布朗辯護說：“他是有點要求高，但我想他不會這樣欺負人。他對他自己的要求就很高，對周圍的人也是如此。”有英國媒體分析認為，在布朗宣布工黨競選綱領、口號之后一天，關于其脾氣暴躁的報道就占據了英國各大媒體的頭條位置，這有可能威脅到今年6月前舉行的議會選舉。

Staff working directly for UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown contacted a telephone helpline that offers advice for people who say they have been bullied in the workplace, adding to reports that he mistreated staff.

Staff working directly for U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown contacted a telephone helpline that offers advice for people who say they have been bullied in the workplace, adding to reports that he mistreated staff.

“We are not suggesting Gordon Brown is a bully,” Christine Pratt, chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, told the BBC. “What we are saying is, staff in his office working directly with him have issues and have concerns and have contacted our helpline.”

Brown’s office yesterday denied allegations in a book by Andrew Rawnsley, the chief political commentator of the Observer newspaper, that the prime minister has mistreated officials. Extracts from the book published in yesterday’s edition included the allegation that Gus O’Donnell, Britain’s most senior civil servant, has investigated Brown’s treatment of staff.

The allegations threaten to undermine Brown’s effort to eliminate the opinion-polls lead held by David Cameron’s opposition Conservatives. The rebuttal came as Brown stepped up campaigning for a general election that must be held by June, calling on voters to “take a second look” at Labour.

Pratt said yesterday that “three or four” calls had been made to the Swindon, England-based charity. Today, in a separate interview with BBC Radio 4, she said two calls had come from the deputy prime minister’s office and another “two or more” from Brown’s office.

Procedures in Place

A spokesman for Brown’s office said the helpline at no point contacted Downing Street about the allegations and that rigorous and well-established procedures are in place to allow a member of staff to address any such concerns.

Yesterday, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson rejected accusations in the original report that Brown was abusive toward staff, although he said the premier is “no shrinking violet.”

Brown is someone who gets “quite emotional, is quite passionate, who gets angry, but chiefly with himself,” Mandelson told BBC Television. “I don’t think he bullies people, but he is demanding of people.”

“The statement put out by Mandelson and others categorically denying that it is occurring is nonsense and it is not credible,” Pratt of the National Bullying Helpline said in yesterday’s interview.

Anne Snelgrove, Brown’s Parliamentary private secretary, attacked the charity today in a BBC Radio 4 interview. A former adviser at the helpline, Snelgrove said she had severed ties with it because she had concerns it was making commercial gain from its activities.

Brown on Feb. 20 said he has never hit anyone in his life, the day before the Observer newspaper published extracts from “The End of The Party,” a book by Andrew Rawnsley, examining life in the premier’s Downing Street office.

The Conservative Party accused the government of a “cover- up” of Brown’s behavior.

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(Agencies)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）