Chris Packham | TV star's sacking over political views highlights a pressing HR dilemma

TV presenter Chris Packham has been sacked by a charity for becoming “too political”, according to reports.

The nature and wildlife TV host was dismissed from his role with Raptor Rescue, a rehabilitation centre for birds of prey, amid claims his political activism was dividing the charity’s members.

Malcolm Robbins, the charity’s chairman, told the Daily Telegraph that, in addition to removing him for his lack of work, Packham was removed because: “he started to get more and more political in his views and that didn’t sit well with our members either.”

Packham has often been outspoken about environmental issues and recently claimed that breaking the law during political protests was “the ethically responsible thing to do”. He explained to the Radio Times: “The suffragettes set fire to things, smashed a lot of glass, attacked people on the street. And in apartheid, they were blowing up trains, blowing up factories.”