Save the Children bosses under fire

SAVE the Children was a ‘cosy old boys’ network’ that spent almost £115,000 in charity cash defending its own reputation in the wake of a sex scandal, an MP said yesterday.

Friendships at the charity ‘seemed to get in the way of doing the right thing’, Tory Pauline Latham told the Commons international development committee.

A probe was launched last year following claims of inappropriate behaviour by former chief executive Justin Forsyth and ex-policy director Brendan Cox. Mrs Latham said there was a ‘cosy relationship’ between the pair and they ‘seemed to get away with things that nobody should be getting away with’.

She told current boss Kevin Watkins that Mr Forsyth was his ‘great pal and nothing really happened to him’, adding: ‘It seemed liked it was a very cosy club.’

The MP also hit out at the way bosses spent £114,000 raised by ‘little old ladies’ in donation on expensive lawyers to ‘protect your reputation’. Mr Watkins said he only had a professional friendship with Mr Forsyth.