Stephen Fry has frequently supported Oxfam, most notably encouraging people to donate 500,000 books to raise £1m in a campaign in 2012
Stephen Fry has urged Oxfam to get ‘its house in order’ in the wake of the sex abuse scandal.
The charity has faced a backlash from celebrities, sponsors and donors following allegations that senior staff working in crisis zones paid for sex with vulnerable locals.
Mr Fry has frequently supported the charity, most notably encouraging people to donate 500,000 books to raise £1m in a campaign in 2012.
But a spokesperson for the comedian told the Daily Telegraph he was ‘waiting to see how they put their house in order after the terrible and disturbing scandal’.
Minnie Driver last night became the first of the charity’s global ambassadors to break ranks and quit in protest.
The actress is stepping down after 20 years, saying she was horrified by the allegations.
The 48-year-old tweeted: ‘All I can tell you about this awful revelation about Oxfam is that I am devastated. Devastated for the women who were used by people sent there to help them, devastated by the response of an organisation that I have been raising awareness for since I was 9 years old #oxfamscandal.’
During her time as an Oxfam ambassador, the Good Will Hunting star travelled to countries including Cambodia and Thailand to highlight the charity’s work and has also performed at a fundraising concert.
Of the British celebrities who act as ambassadors, the pop band Coldplay and actor Bill Nighy, who travelled to Tazmania in 2007 with the charity, both refused to comment, while representatives of the singer Annie Lennox failed to respond to requests for comment.
The remaining 12 ambassadors, including Desmond Tutu, have not yet responded to inquiries.
Minnie Driver (pictured in 2010) last night quit her role as celebrity ambassador for Oxfam in protest at the charity’s sex scandal
The 48-year-old actress, who was one of the charity’s 16 ambassadors, said in a series of tweets that she was ‘devastated’ by the Oxfam revelations
Driver hit back against a critic who claimed her decision to quit the role was because of her ‘pandering to the media’
Major firms said they would review their relationship with the charity because of its failure to protect the vulnerable.
Visa and Marks & Spencer both spoke out against ‘abhorrent’ and ‘deeply concerning’ behaviour by Oxfam staff.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme has threatened to stop its children working in the charity’s shops following allegations of abuse across its store network.
More than 1,200 people have cancelled their monthly donations to Oxfam after reports emerged of its aid workers using prostitutes.
Another Oxfam partner, Heathrow Airport, said in a statement: ‘We are in touch with the charity and are taking this matter very seriously.’
Waterstones said it would listen to ‘assurances’ given by the charity’s leadership, but remained a committed supporter.
A spokeswoman for the Co-operative Bank, a partner of Oxfam since 1995, said it was ‘monitoring the situation closely’.
The Innocent drinks company, which gives Oxfam around £100,000 a year, said it wanted to see a clear plan ‘for how this could not ever happen again’.
Three other major partners – Sainsbury’s, Unilever and Accenture – did not respond to requests to issue public backing.
Major firms said they would review their relationship with the charity because of its failure to protect the vulnerable
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt condemned the charity in a speech today, saying it had failed to show ‘moral leadership’ and failed to properly inform donors, regulators and prosecutors about the actions of its workers.
In a speech to an aid conference in Stockholm, Ms Mordaunt tore into Oxfam over its response to the revelations about aid workers in Haiti in 2011.
She said: ‘The recent revelations about Oxfam – not solely the actions perpetrated by a number of those staff, but the way the organisations responded to those events, should be a wake-up call to the sector.
‘They let perpetrators go. They did not inform donors, their regulator or prosecuting authorities.
‘It was not just the processes and procedures of that organisation that were lacking but moral leadership.’
Oxfam received £31.7 million in taxpayer funding in 2016/17, but Ms Mordaunt indicated future support could be at risk.
‘No organisation is too big, or our work with them too complex, for me to hesitate to remove funding from them if we cannot trust them to put the beneficiaries of aid first,’ she said.
She said she would be meeting the National Crime Agency tomorrow after talks with charity bosses, regulators and experts in recent days.