Dame Esther quits trustee role ‘at request of her children’

Following internal inquiry by NSPCC’s ‘Smiling Assassin’...

After decades of indefatigable campaigning for children Dame esther rantzen has secured her status as a national treasure.

So her many devotees will be dismayed to hear that she has decided to step down as a trustee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Dame esther became a trustee of the NSPCC 12 years ago when it took over ChildLine, the helpline for children she had established in 1986 in response to the distressing stories of abuse she learned of while presenting that’s Life!, one of the BBC’s most popular shows ever with regular Saturday night audiences of 18 million.

Her departure follows an internal inquiry by the charity’s vicechairman, eminent retired civil servant Sir David Normington, 66, into the operations of ChildLine within the NSPCC.

During his time as Permanent Secretary at the Department for education he reduced the Department’s workforce by approximately a third, in the process earning himself the nickname the ‘Smiling Assassin’.

Dame esther insists that her departure so soon after Sir David’s internal inquiry is purely coincidental and that at 78 she feels the time has come to step back.

‘My children have staged an intervention, asking me to do less,’ she tells me.

‘ trustees normally serve nine years, I have done 12.

‘I was ready to stand down from the board two years ago on the 30th anniversary of ChildLine, but at the time ChildLine was going through radical changes so I agreed to stay on for another two years.’

Dame esther remains President of ChildLine.

A spokesman for the NSPCC says: ‘You can be sure that esther will be even busier than before, visiting Childline bases, speaking to staff and volunteers while continuing to bang the drum for thousands of children.

‘Mark my words, you’ll see her more than ever before. It just means fewer meetings!’