Christine Pratt, chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, said three or four calls had been made in recent years.
The row over Gordon Brown"s "volcanic temper" took an extraordinary turn tonight as the head of an anti-bullying charity revealed a number of Gordon Brown"s staff had contacted her organisation asking for advice.
Christine Pratt, chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, said three or four calls had been made in recent years.
She added she would expect any employer in this situation not to "gointo denial, but to look into it, to follow due process".
Outrightdenial could "compound the stress of those who believe they are beingbullied", she added.
"We are not suggesting that Gordon Brownis a bully, what we are saying is staff in his office working directlywith him have issues, and have concerns, and have contacted ourhelpline."
Mrs Pratt"s extraordinary statement came just hours after Business Secretary Peter Mandelson scotched claims that Mr Brown had been abusive to his staff.
The charity chief described Mr Mandelson"s defence of the prime minister as a "nonsense."
Today, Lord Mandelson described the beleaguered premier as impatient but not a bully.
Lord Mandelson said that although Mr Brown was emotional anddemanding, he did not abuse staff and questioned whether the countrywanted a "shrinking violet" in charge.
Lord Mandelson told BBC1"s Andrew Marr Show: "I don"t think he so much bullies people as he is very demanding of people.
MrBrown was "a man who is quite emotional, is quite passionate in what bebelieves and what he is doing...who gets angry but chiefly withhimself, who doesn"t bully people", he went on.
"He isdemanding of himself, he is demanding of people around him, he knowswhat he wants to do, he does not like taking no for an answer fromanyone, he will go on and on until he has got a policy and an idea inthe best possible form which he can then roll out.
Lord Mandelson defended Brown"s "volcanic temper", describing him as impatient but not a bully
"There isa degree of impatience about the man but what would you like, some sortof shrinking violet at the helm of the Government when we are goingthrough such stormy waters."
His defence of the Prime Minster came amid explosive disclosures about Mr Browns wild and violent outbursts.
A new book claims that Britain"s top civil servant even had to order the Prime Minister to ;curb your volcanictemper after complaints that he was abusive to his Downing Streetstaff.
SirGus felt the need "to calm down frightened duty clerks, badly-treatedphone operators and other bruised staff" and tell them don"t take itpersonally".
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The Prime Minister was forced to go on television last night to deny he had physically assaulted his aides as a new book claimed:
Sir Gus ordered an official inquiry into allegations of bullying by Mr Brown.Paranoid Mr Brown grabbed an aide violently and shouted: ;Theyre out to get me!The raging PM thumped the rear of the front seat of his car so hard that it scared the bodyguard sitting in it; while an aide sitting next to Mr Brown thought the PM was going to smash him in the face.Mr Brown dragged a No10 secretary from her chair and took over at her keyboard.He manhandled a senior adviser who told him he was late for a meeting with VIPs, yelling: ;Why do I have to meet these ****ing people!Straw held secret talks about toppling Brown after Scotland by-election loss
Mr Cameron"s long-time friend Steve Hilton and wife Rachel Whetstone
There are no clear policies on either taxation or spending. Nor, worst of all, can the Conservatives nail Labour for its myriad and very obvious failures.
Almost incredibly, there is no campaign manager taking charge of what comes out of the Conservative campaign headquarters. I say incredibly because there is no shortage of senior figures advising the Tory leader.
Steve Hilton, a long-time friend of Cameron, is responsible for strategy. He is seen as so important that he was allowed to do his job from California when his wife Rachel Whetstone went to work at Google HQ.
George Osborne, who is the Election co-ordinator as well as the Shadow Chancellor, is a talented strategist in his own right, and Andy Coulson, the straight-talking former News Of The World editor, is the Partys media man.
George Bridges has been brought back by Osborne to serve as his campaign deputy. Bridges is a more tribal Conservative than many of those around Cameron.
Word has it that Osborne lured him back precisely because he wanted his more traditional instincts represented.
This structure, though, is top-heavy. Differences of opinion are inevitable but, as one insider puts it, the problem comes with ;lots of people having the authority to interfere but no one having the authority to decide.
Hilton, who is viewed as an iconoclast within the Party, believes the Conservatives should stick to just a few broad messages.
Osborne, in contrast, thinks they should be emphasising different things to different groups.
While Hiltons approach might seem ;touchy feely to traditionalists, Coulson represents a rather more straightforward, ;pub-ready version of Conservatism.
He is meant to be the man who understands what will rally ;Essex man to the Tories.These structural problems have been compounded by various errors.
On the first Monday of the year, Cameron found himself unable to remember what his policy on marriage was.
Then came the shift in the leaderships rhetoric about how much public spending it would cut.
The Cameron operation is a tight-knit circle but they need to remember that they arent running a leadership campaign but a Party.
They would be well advised to make more of a show of listening and consulting the Party and explaining to it why things have to change.
There are signs of things improving, though. The Tories successful offensive on Gordon Browns ;death-tax, forcing him to explain how he would pay for extravagant expenditure on care for the elderly, was an encouraging sign.
Cameron and Osborne and their staffs have now moved out of their Parliamentary offices to Conservative headquarters, signalling a move into Election mode.
In a stirring address to staff on Monday, Osborne told them that the next 80 days were the most important of his professional life and theirs.
A sense of camaraderie between the wider Party staff and the leadership - something that has been lacking - is now being fostered.
Clearly, there is work to do and Cameron needs to sound a more certain trumpet.
Without that, it will be hard to persuade Conservative MPs, let alone the voters, that the Tories are heading in the right direction.
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