Page 10 QQQ Daily Mail, Thursday, March 5, 2020
MPs last night called for the embat-
tled chief executive of save the
Children UK to be sacked after a
damning report into the charity’s
mishandling of sex claims against
senior managers.
The Charity Commission accused
save the Children UK (sCUK) of ‘seri-
ous failures’ and of jeopardising public
faith in the entire charity sector.
The commission’s findings heaped pres-
sure on chief executive Kevin Watkins, 64,
who was on the board of trustees when
complaints were made against former
CEO Justin Forsyth and policy director
Brendan Cox.
Conservative MP Pauline Latham said:
‘Kevin Watkins was a trustee. He was on the
inside track, he must have known the right
people to get the job he got. Anyone tar-
nished with that reputation should go.’
In 2018, Mr Watkins was criticised by MPs
for spending £114,000 on lawyers to try to
stop reports of inappropriate behaviour
being exposed by the media. Miss Latham
said: ‘He was wrong to spend money that
should have gone to children.’
Mr Watkins admitted the charity had made
matters worse for the women when it failed
‘Tarnished’ Save
the Children boss
must go, says MP
By Vanessa Allen
and Simon Walters
The commission found there
were ‘serious weaknesses in the
charity’s workplace culture, and
serious failures in the way the
charity dealt with complaints
about behaviour at its head office’.
It said it was highly unusual for it
to investigate internal staff con-
duct at a charity, but the issues at
sCUK were so serious that it was
forced to launch an inquiry.
The report also found there had
been a further five complaints of
sexual harassment at the charity’s
head office in Farringdon, central
London, between 2016 and 2018,
and 13 complaints of bullying.
Commission chairman Baroness
stowell said misconduct at a high-
Gordon Brown in Downing street,
was initially accused of inappro-
priate behaviour by a woman at
sCUK in 2012, when he was chief
executive.
she did not make a formal com-
plaint after he apologised, but Mr
Forsyth was told his behaviour
‘must never happen again’ and
that he would not receive his
annual bonus that year.
Two other women then com-
plained about him in 2015.
Mr Cox, 44, was accused of sex-
ual harassment later that year and
sCUK filed a serious incident
report to the Charity Commission,
in which it said an employee hadaccused a senior member of staff
of harassment and ‘inappropriate
contact’. The charity told the
watchdog that a complaint had
also been raised about another
senior staff member, but did not
say it related to Mr Forsyth, its
£160,000-a-year chief executive.
T h e c o m m i s s i o n s a i d t h a t
amounted to mismanagement.
Mr Forsyth left sCUK later that
year and moved to a top role at
children’s charity Unicef, which
was not told about the allegations.
He resigned when the claims were
made public in 2018. Mr Cox also
left sCUK in 2015, a year before
the murder of his Labour MP wife.After the claims were made pub-
lic, he resigned from a foundation
established in her memory.
The commission’s report, which
followed a two-year investigation,
found the charity had mishandled
its response to media inquiries
about the harassment claims and
was ‘unduly defensive’.
The charity said it accepted the
findings in full, adding that
improving its workplace culture
was ‘a critical priority’.
Mr Watkins said: ‘I unreservedly
apologise to the women affected
by the behaviour of these two sen-
ior executives.’
Comment – Page 16profile charity risked undermining
public faith in the entire sector.
she said: ‘When mismanagement
occurs at a charity that is a house-
hold name, it risks undermining
the work of other charities who
rely on public confidence and
goodwill to thrive and prosper.
‘This is not only about treating
complainants with the serious-
ness and respect they deserve, it
is also about demonstrating that
no one gets a pass because they
are doing important work or are
motivated by the desire to help
some of the most vulnerable peo-
ple around the world.’ Mr Forsyth,
54, who worked for Tony Blair andFrom yesterday’s Mailto respond appropriately, and mishandled
media inquiries about the complaints.
The Charity Commission said sCUK broke
its own regulations after three women com-
plained about the behaviour of Mr Forsyth.
One of the women said there was ‘a wide-
spread cultural problem of sexual harass-
ment at the charity’, and harassment alle-
gations were also made against Mr Cox, the
husband of murdered MP Jo Cox.
Both men left the charity after the
complaints and have since apologised for
their conduct. sCUK said it accepted the
report’s findings and apologised to the
women affected.
women’s appearance, their
clothes and how he felt
about them. If they did not
reply to texts, he would
send a follow-up email and
even call them in for a chat,
it was stated.
A leaked email from the
time recommended Mr For-
syth should not be alone
with female employees.
The allegations of miscon-duct against Mr Cox at SCUK
included a claim he grabbed
a woman by the throat out-
side a bar and told her, ‘I
want to f*** you’.
I n Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 8 i t
e m e r g e d t h a t h e h a d
been accused of sexually
assaulting a senior US
government official at Har-
vard University. The police
file said Mr Cox ‘grabbed
[the woman] by the hips
several times... and forced
his thumb into her mouth in
a sexual way’.
He also ‘touched her inap-
propriately in a restaurant’,
it was claimed. The alleged
incident occurred in 2015,
shortly after he had left
SCUK. Mr Cox said: ‘I want to
apologise deeply and unre-
servedly for my past behav-
iour and for the hurt and
offence that I have caused.’Men at centre of sex claims
FORMER Save the Children
UK chief executive Justin
Forsyth and policy director
Brendan Cox met while
working at Oxfam in the
early 2000s.
M r Fo r sy t h wa s f i r st
accused of inappropriate
behaviour at SCUK in 2012,
with two other women com-
plaining about him in 2015.
He admitted to ‘personal
mistakes’ after sending
three young women a large
number of over-familiar
texts in his five years at the
helm of the charity. He
‘apologised unreservedly’
for engaging in ‘unsuitable
and thoughtless conversa-
tions’ which had ‘caused
offence and hurt’.
Whistleblowers said Mr
‘Personal mistakes’: Mr Forsyth Forsyth commented onBy Simon Walters
Apology: Brendan CoxNow boss of Save the
Children blames sex
probe for lost £16m