Many years ago when I was working for BHT Sussex, we were approached by a prominent public figure with the offer of a generous donation, writes columnist Andy Winter. The individual was trying to rehabilitate his reputation following a public scandal and was, apparently, offering public donations to a range of charities. Because of our distaste for his prior actions (which were not illegal) and because of the reputational damage that we felt we would have experienced had the donation been accepted, we declined it even though the money would have been very helpful.

As a result of that and other experiences, I was always wary of going down the celebrity route for fundraising.

One never knew what skeletons were in closets and many charities have been damaged by the fall from grace of one of their celebrity supporters. Just think of those charities who unknowingly, in some cases knowingly, worked with serial sex offenders like Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris.

Political parties are equally culpable when aligned with characters whose personal lives and public pronouncements have left much to be desired.

The Conservatives shamefully allowed Kenny Everett to make wholly inappropriate “jokes” about bombing Russia and kicking away Michael Foot’s walking stick. Savile was close to Margaret Thatcher and was knighted by her.

In the United States the Clintons and Barack Obama were close to the serial sex offender Harvey Weinstein. Questions have been asked as to why they were so blind to his true character for so long. Was it his generous support for their election campaigns?

Bill Clinton was further damaged by his association with another serial sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew’s reputation, too, is in tatters because of his relationship with Epstein and his inept and ludicrous attempt to justify this friendship.

In the last couple of weeks some politicians must be feeling very uncomfortable about their association with Russell Brand. Ed Miliband, for example, then leader of the Labour Party, went out of his way to be interviewed by Brand in the run up to the 2015 general election.

Even Caroline Lucas looked delighted in a video on Brand’s social media channel to be endorsed by him before the 2015 election. She looked less comfortable during the preceding interview as Brand invaded her personal space.

By then there were rumours about Brand. A few days after Brand met with Miliband and Lucas, his ex-partner, Jordan Martin, described Brand as a misogynist who had abused her.

But even before that, Brand was well-known for his tasteless humour and sexual conduct. For example, in 2008 he made that infamous and abusive prank call to Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers) saying that he had had sex with his granddaughter. Brand was sacked by the BBC afterwards.

Both Labour and the Greens should have known better than to allow Ed Miliband and Caroline Lucas anywhere near Brand. I don’t believe for a moment that Caroline would have gone within a hundred miles of Brand had she been aware of these latest allegations.

Her party doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes to confronting sexual offenders among its ranks.

Look at its inaction over Green Party member David Challenor who was allowed to act as an election agent, not once but twice, even though the party knew he had been arrested and charged with kidnapping and sexually abusing a ten-year-old. He was subsequently convicted and jailed for 22 years.

Others who should have known better, had promoted Brand over the years, these same years when he had been open in his television and stage acts about his abuse and humiliation of women for his personal gratification. In a 2007 radio interview with Savile, Brand said he wanted to meet him and offered to bring along his female assistant, naked.

But still he was promoted, becoming the guest editor of an edition of the New Statesman and, for a number of years, a columnist for The Guardian. George Monbiot, a darling of the British left, nominated Brand as his “hero of the year” in 2014, saying “Brand’s openness about his flaws makes him a good leader and allows those who admire him to be good followers.”

Maya Angelou said: “When people show you who they are, believe them.”

Andy Winter is a former councillor who worked in social care and homelessness services for 40 years