Three senior staffers with the Moderate party, a partner in the coalition government, were fired on Monday after the party stated in an internal memo that it no longer had confidence in “all staff” at its political secretariat in parliament.

The memo was initially reported by national media including broadcasters TV2 and DR, before the Moderates later confirmed the sackings.

In addition to the three terminations, a further seven employees have chosen to resign, newswire Ritzau reports.

Monday’s developments come after a period of internal stability in the party, which is led by Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

In comments to media on Monday, Rasmussen, who has previously denied a working environment plagued by sexism and harassment at the Moderates, admitted the party had issues with bullying.

“There have been problems with a bullying culture,” he told broadcaster DR.

“We have a certain department in our secretariat where we have concluded that if this is to work, we need to start afresh,” he also said in comments reported by Ritzau.

While the fired staffers can reapply for their jobs, the department needed a “restart”, he added.

Some of the employees who are leaving were nearing the end of their contracts, he also noted.

Last month, whistleblowers including former and current people on the Moderates’ payroll reported the party for bullying and harassment to the work health and safety authority, Arbejdstilsynet.

Several senior figures from the party were specifically named in the report, though their specific roles were not described. Party secretary Kirsten Munch Andersen was among those who were named, as was Rasmussen’s former spin doctor Caroline Stage Olsen days after she had received a promotion to Minister for Digitisation.

Rasmussen subsequently announced an external psychologist would be brought in to help, but that failed to smooth over the issue, with MP Jeppe Søe quitting the party during a podcast after demanding an independent investigation into the claims.

The party faced further bad press over reports that a Moderate representative had contacted the new employer of a former staff member, while it last week offered staff severance packages that included a confidentiality clause.