Former adviser to David Cameron says she was 'useful face for the politics people to have a go at'

David Cameron's former families' tsar gave an extraordinary performance in defence of the welfare-to-work company A4e on Wednesday night in her first lengthy interview since quitting the firm.

Emma Harrison told Channel 4 News she was "bullied" out of her job in a Westminster "maelstrom" and she rejected claims that A4E was missing targets for the government's work programme. She resigned as Cameron's adviser and then as head of A4e in February, amid fraud investigations into the firm, but she remains its biggest shareholder.

She rejected claims A4e had found jobs lasting at least six months for fewer than 4% of people referred under the work programme, adding she had been a "useful face for the politics people to have a go at". The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has set a 5.5% minimum target for private firms in the payment-by-results arrangement.

Harrison repeatedly said the information was wrong, but she was not able to supply the correct figures.

"What really, really matters is that, through the work programme, tens of thousands of people are getting jobs," she said , adding that the taxpayer received £2 back for every £1 spent. Official statistics on the performance of the programme are to be released by the DWP later this year.

A4e came under fire for paying £11m in dividends last year, 87% to Harrison, despite all its UK turnover, estimated at up to £180m, resulting from government welfare contracts.