Well done, lads

Good afternoon

It was my avowed intention to beetle away from the Inquiry hearing room yesterday to sit on my own in Somerset House and write up Ian Henderson and Ron Warmington’s appearance at the Post Office IT Inquiry.

Ron and Ian had agreed to go for a drink with my publishers after they were done. As I left the hearing room I asked myself what I thought I was doing. Why leave a Rolling Stones gig to write a review when you’ve got an invite to the after-party?!

It was a good decision. Barristers Flora Page and Paul Marshall, former Subpostmaster Deirdre Connolly, Darius Connolly, Helen Warmington, the BBC’s Andy Verity, the mysterious Monsieur Cholet, Bath Publishing’s Helen Lacey, David Chaplin and I joined the men of the moment at Daly’s wine bar at the top of Essex Street for a debrief.

Before I tell you about that, if you would like to read a considered write-up of Ron and Ian’s evidence session (subtitled “You’re all f***ing mad“), plus the first sighting of Jo Swinson talking about this story since she left government, please click here.

Scooop

It was, as you might expect, a convivial affair. As you will know from the last newsletter, I hugely respect Ron and Ian’s work. They immediately spotted an appalling scandal and did everything possible in the face of unbelievable institutional and legal pressure (and as it turned out, threats) to ensure justice was done. They are also both enormously good company, which made it a pleasure to be able to toast their achievements and catch up on some gossip.

As well as finally managing to get a half-decent photo of Ron and Ian together, I was also given the little whisper of a story which I hope will make its way into the national news media very shortly.

When I told Deirdre Connolly (pictured) about it, shocked was not the word (that photo was taken before I told her what had happened). Deirdre kindly gave me an on-the-record quote in between spitting feathers.

Forgive me for being a little coy as things are currently going through the usual processes, but if it goes well, all will be revealed in the next newsletter. I am very grateful to my source for this and to everyone who helped get it out there. If it gets out there.

Print media (sometimes) rules

Today appears to be a day to draw your attention to some Post Office-related printed word stuff. The ongoing fallout from the scandal gets a full page in the back of Private Eye magazine – with staffer Richard Brooks (at the Inquiry yesterday but sadly not able to join us for a drink) focusing on the evidence of former Post Office Chair Alice Perkins and “the grandest figure to take the stand” at the Inquiry to date – Lord Grabiner. Highly recommended and available at your local newsagent if you’re not already a subscriber.

Incidentally, a former Subpostmaster asked Private Eye if there was any chance they could have a brief tour of the magazine’s offices on Monday as he and his father were travelling down from Wales to see Ian and Ron at the Inquiry. Both father and son were long-time subscribers and were grateful for the Eye’s coverage of the Post Office story.

The plan was set until Lord Gnome’s underlings realised Monday was publication day – when things in the office might get a little hairy. As a compromise, Ian Hislop and Richard Brooks put the magazine to bed and joined the pair for an after-dinner drink on Monday evening. I am told Richard and Ian stayed for two hours, sharing tales of the Eye’s entertaining history whilst learning yet more about the Post Office scandal. Now that is customer service.

Butter me up

The second printed item which may be of interest can be found in the latest edition of Butterworth’s International Banking and Financial Law (I know, right?). It is written by Paul Marshall and is called Electronic Trade Documents: what is a reliable computer system? Here is a picture of Paul showing it to Ron and Ian in Daly’s last night.

If you don’t have a subscription to Butterworths (£1289 for 11 issues to you, guv), take my word for it – it’s a very good piece.

If you would like to read other takes on the same subject for free, my old friend Stephen Mason (another barrister) has gone in touch to alert me to an article posted in (where else) The Barrister called “Evidence from computers – the unreliable legal presumption that, without more, it can be relied upon“.

The third piece of printed media which caught my attention was in the latest copy of Viz magazine’s Top Tips section. It rather speaks for itself.

Champion Beer

Continuing the slightly giddy nature of this newsletter (apologies for those who prefer a dourer tone), I am delighted to report that whilst Ron and Ian were recovering from their bruising encounter at the Inquiry with Jason Beer KC, Jason Beer KC was recovering from his bruising encounter with Ron and Ian by picking up the Barrister of the Year Award at the glitzy showbiz Lawyer Awards in central London. Congrats to Mr Beer and thanks to his partner Samantha Bird for permission to use the snap below.

Is that Claudia Winkleman standing next to Mr Beer? I think it might be…

More Moorhead

Professor Richard Moorhead has begun a slow dismemberment of Anthony de Garr Robinson’s evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. De Garr Robinson is yet another barrister, being the Post Office’s lead counsel during their attempted defence of Bates v Post Office.

You can read Moorhead’s second blog post on dGR’s evidence “Putting privilege at the centre of things” – published this morning – here. You may, alternatively, like to start at the beginning, with his first post “Remote truth“.

Law Hyde

Thanks to everyone who has signed up recently and to the many correspondents who keep me on my toes. I am grateful.

I am going to leave you with a tweet from John Hyde from the Law Gazette who picked out one paragraph from Ian Henderson’s witness statement which, in Hyde’s view highlights “the absurdity of this whole scandal”. He’s right. It does. They were all f***ing mad.