The dogged parliamentary campaigner

Good morning

I made it to the public inquiry yesterday, where I witnessed Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom’s evidence, and caught up with a few former Subpostmasters, lawyers, journalist and ushers who I hadn’t seen in a while.

I have started to write up what I can about Lord Arbuthnot’s evidence. I wanted to highlight what I saw as a significant litany presented to Arbuthnot just before the morning break, by counsel to the enquiry Jason Beer KC.

Sadly, at the time of writing, the transcript of the hearing has not yet been published and in my incapacitated state, I was unable to take down quotes. As soon as it is I will incorporate it into my blog post and publish.

Other outlets have picked up on the same point:

Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells accused of false statement, inquiry hears – BBC News

Post Office inquiry: Vennells ‘failed to tell MPs’ about 16 cases where Horizon software made errors – The Independent

It was a joy to see Nicki Arch and Wendy Buffrey before the hearing started. I was also introduced to Bharat and Anna Dalal (pictured below). They both have an extraordinary story to tell – their livelihoods were ruined in a completely arbitrary way, as Post Office goons went after an individual who was stealing from their branch.

They became collateral damage in a heavy-handed operation which, according to Barrett, involved the Post Office investigators planting evidence in order to justify a house search.

One journalist I was able to get to know a little better yesterday was Fiona Parker, who live-blogged proceedings for the Daily Telegraph here.

We were across the room from Tom Witherow, who also live-blogged for The Times. Tom recorded a comment I made on Twitter about Sir Anthony Hooper’s evidence.

Hooper told the inquiry that by the middle of 2014, he was concerned the Post Office may have been responsible for a serious miscarriage of justice.

Why didn’t he tell anybody? Professor Richard Morehead has picked up on this point in his substack.

Stourport is off, with apologies

I have an operation date to put a plate in my wrist. It sadly means we’ve had to postpone the Post Office scandal talk I had booked at the Civic Theatre in Southport on Monday 15 April.

Tom, my indefatigable producer and tour manager, will drive me home overnight from the event in Shrewsbury to Surrey on Sunday. I will get a few hours sleep before reporting to hospital at 7:30am on Monday.

If all goes well, I expect to be discharged in the afternoon, and then have a restful night at home, before heading up to Evesham in Worcestershire on Tuesday, and continuing the tour from there.

Profound apologies to everyone who booked a ticket for Stourport. We hope to rescheduled date for the autumn. I’ll let you know as soon as we get a confirmed date.

All other dates remain unaffected. If you still haven’t booked a ticket and have been meaning to, I would recommend doing so as soon as possible. The recent increase in attention on the story in the media has given things another bump and good seats are going fast.

In Your Own Words

Before I go, Wendy Buffrey asked me draw attention to this initiative from the Inquiry called In Your Own Words. It is an invitation to make a contribution to the Inquiry open to “all who may have been impacted [by the Post Office Scandal] including current or former Subpostmasters, family members, friends, community members, or other members of the public who may have reflections to share. Current or previous employees of organisations linked to the scandal, such as the Post Office, Government or Fujitsu, who may have been impacted in different ways, are also invited to share their experiences.”

Do have a look and click around.

Thanks

Thanks again for all the messages. It’s been fascinating to read them and at times very touching.

Do please watch ITV Evening News at 6.30pm tonight. We have another investigation going out featuring former Post Office Executive Angela van den Bogerd and one of the most appalling miscarriages of justice in this whole scandal.

Oh, and if you want to build a replacement for Horizon and fancy taking £75,000,000 of taxpayers’ cash to do so, now’s your chance. I hope you can do a better job than Fujitsu.

Back soon I hope.

Nick

Post Office Scandal – The Inside Story

In April and May 2024, I’ll be visiting various theatres in towns around England in the counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, County Durham, Dorset, East Sussex, Devon, Cornwall, Essex, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Hertfordshire, and Surrey, including my home town of Walton on Thames.

At each venue I’ll be joined by a former Subpostmaster (apart from Walton when Second Sight’s Ian Henderson will be in the chair). There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and learn even more about the scandal.

All the dates and box office links are here. Please do have a look, see if there’s a venue near you, and if you fancy it, book a couple of tickets. Please also feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends who may live near a venue!

I’ll be around after each show in the foyer or bar and look forward to saying hello if you can make it.