Beleaguered boss blames ‘the anti-aid agenda’ and says: It’s not as if we murdered babies in their cots

OXFAM’S British boss was criticised last night after suggesting that the uproar over the sex abuse scandal was being motivated by an ‘anti-aid agenda’.

Mark Goldring, GB chief executive, said the reaction to the scandal was ‘disproportionate’, adding that it was not as if aid workers had ‘murdered babies in their cots’.

He said the ‘scale and intensity’ of criticism did not fit the crimes, adding: ‘Anything we say is being manipulated.’

Last night critics again called on Mr Goldring to resign, saying that he was trying to ‘spin’ the crisis to make Oxfam the victim, despite a catalogue of allegations about the behaviour of staff. Tory MP and aid critic Andrew Bridgen said: ‘He needs to resign. He is operating in a parallel reality. He’s trying to spin it so Oxfam is the victim in all this. That is the ultimate denial.’

In the interview with The Guardian yesterday, Mr Goldring accused critics of ‘gunning’ for the charity over the Haiti sex scandal. He spoke out after reports that several of the charity’s aid workers had used prostitutes in Haiti while providing humanitarian work, following the 2011 earthquake.

He accused those who have spoken out against the alleged crimes of being motivated in part by an ‘anti-aid agenda’. Asked if he believed this alleged agenda was responsible for the attacks on the charity, he said: ‘The intensity and the ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do? We murdered babies in their cots?

‘Certainly, the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of culpability.

‘I struggle to understand it. You think, “My God, there’s something going on there”.’

But when asked if anti-aid MPs such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel were exploiting the crisis, he said: ‘What I’m really concerned about is that this is not used as an approach to attack aid.’

Asked about accusations that Oxfam covered up the scandal, he said this decision was ‘wrong’ but said he could understand why it happened. ‘If Oxfam’s business is to help save lives, if your organisation is there to actually help make the world a better place, I can see why people thought this was the right thing to do,’ he added.

Mr Goldring admitted the organisation’s failings but said the ‘scale and intensity’ of criticism was disproportionate, adding: ‘We’ve been savaged.’

Yesterday he repeated his apology for Oxfam’s failings and agreed that major reforms were needed. But he warned that the controversy has already affected donations.