Pressure is mounting on Christine Pratt to resign from her role as chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline following her public revelations about calls made to the helpline by distressed staff from Number 10 Downing Street.

All her patrons have severed ties with the organisations amid concerns that she has breached confidentiality.

Pratt continues to deny that she has done this (presumably because she has not revealed the actual names and addresses of the distressed callers).

Whether or not her revelations breach confidentiality is serious enough but for me the most critical issue is whether her actions undermine her organisation’s ability to fulfill its charitable purpose.

The National Bullying Helpline, like all charities, was presumably established for the public good. It exists to offer support to individuals who have nowhere else to turn, primarily by offering a confidential helpline - a valuable offer by anyone's standards.

What the charity does not exist to do is to play a role in party politics.

In the run-up to a general election a charity publicly attacking the current Prime Minister can surely not be seen as politically neutral.

When charity coalitions such as Make Poverty History were prevented from running adverts on TV about the need to end poverty because they were ‘too political’ surely something is wrong if charity heads such as Mrs Pratt can espouse such contentious and inflammatory views that are not just political but party political.

The fact that her public revelations have led to the suspension of her charitable activity is a tragic outcome for all those who would have found the helpline invaluable.

I’m surprised to hear myself say it but it does seem that sometimes charities can get too involved in politics.