The scandal ratchets up
Morning secret emailers
There was a deadly serious development in the Post Office story on Friday evening as Lord Arbuthnot wrote to the government, the Lord Speaker and the Speaker of the House of Commons alleging that the Post Office had lied to parliament.
His letter was emailed in relation to what is now being called the Clarke advice, a document written in 2013, but which was only disclosed this month to solicitors working for three former Subpostmasters on their appeals.
Lord Arbuthnot believes the content of the 2013 Clarke advice flatly contradicts what the Post Office said in written evidence to parliament in 2015.
If that is true, the implications will be very far-reaching. Have a read of the latest here.
Flora Page
Many of you have written to me with concern, asking about the fate of the barrister, Flora Page, who admitted in court to passing the Clarke advice to her brother, a journalist.
Ms Page appeared in court on Thursday alongside her brother. I didn’t attend the hearing, but I have received a partial transcript of what happened.
It now transpires another barrister working for the same team passed the Clarke advice to the Metropolitan police. He has been invited to appear before the court alongside Ms Page on 30 November. More here.
Reporting restrictions
The Post Office appear to be keen to have a discussion about imposing reporting restrictions over the Clarke advice, something resisted in court on Thursday by Ms Page’s barrister.
During the course of that discussion Lord Justice Picken mentioned he had read my live tweets from Wednesday’s hearing. I’ve just read them again. I’m not sure they are great literature, but they serve a purpose – getting material into the public domain.
Last week I told you I felt considerably exposed, knowing that as a freelancer with none of the resources other news organisations have, I am one false move or word away from being hauled before the court and losing my job, income and professional credibility.
On the flipside it appears my reporting from court is having some kind of effect. I was able to get the names of the former Fujitsu employees under criminal investigation into the public domain and I have managed to establish that the Clarke advice appears to deal with a Fujitsu witness giving incorrect evidence in court.
I am extremely grateful to those of you who have donated in recent weeks and especially those who replied with words of support after Wednesday’s email.
The next step is to apply to the court to receive the Clarke advice so it can be made public.
If there are any media lawyers reading this who wish to help me prepare an application to the court for the Clarke advice and who may be available to ventilate the relevant arguments on my behalf at a Court of Appeal hearing, I would be delighted to hear from you: nick@nickwallis.com – or just hit reply to this email.
Parliamentary Ombudsman complaint
The Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance has sent an update to those who donated to crowdfund its complaint to the parliamentary ombudsman. It says:
“The complaint is finished, and whilst we will continue to update it as new evidence is unearthed, it was submitted to BEIS, on first stage of its journey to the Ombudsman, at the end of last month.We fully expect BEIS and HMG to continue with its ridiculous mantra that, ‘Although Post Office Ltd is 100% owned by the Government, the company operates at arm’s length as an independent commercial business’, and so the complaint will be submitted to the Ombudsman on 1 December 2020.”
Further info about the complaint can be found of the JFSA website here.
Within 15 minutes of the JFSA sending its update to contributors, Tony Collins had posted his analysis of this development on the Campaign 4 Change website in an excellent piece called “Government ‘complicit’ in Post Office IT Scandal says £100,000 complaint to Parliamentary Ombudsman”. Tony clearly has the fastest typing fingers in Britain.
Computer Weekly also posted an article on the same subject slightly later in the morning, called “Subpostmasters want £300m from a government that allowed Post Office ‘reign of terror’”
800 is the magic number
I’m delighted to say this email newsletter now has exactly 800 subscribers, ranging from members of the house of Lords, MPs, barristers, solicitors, journalists, ex and current Post Office and Fujitsu types, campaigning, serving and ex-Subpostmasters and a large chunk of bewildered Johnny Depp fans who have wandered in and been kind enough not to unsubscribe.
Whoever you are – thanks! It’s been quite the couple of years. On 23 November 2018 we were right in the thick of the Common Issues Trial at the High Court. Here’s what I wrote about the characters from the Post Office inhabiting the witness box on that day.
Enjoy your week.
Nick