近日，有消息称英国首相布朗手下的员工曾经多次拨打“全国反欺凌热线”反应在唐宁街10号遭到布朗的粗暴对待。《观察家报》也于21日刊登该报政治评论员的书摘，指出布朗在言行上粗暴对待员工，并称国务大臣奥唐奈得知此事后相当不安，随即对此展开调查，要求布朗注意自己的行为。布朗内阁办公厅当天立即发表声明，严正否认奥唐奈曾经调查或警告布朗。布朗也坚决表示自己从来没有打过任何人。英国商务大臣曼德尔森坦言布朗某种程度上是不太耐心，不过并不会欺凌别人。他替布朗辩护说：“他是有点要求高，但我想他不会这样欺负人。他对他自己的要求就很高，对周围的人也是如此。”有英国媒体分析认为，在布朗宣布工党竞选纲领、口号之后一天，关于其脾气暴躁的报道就占据了英国各大媒体的头条位置，这有可能威胁到今年6月前举行的议会选举。

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)

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）