Today’s mane event
I had yet another one of those moments this morning when I went to save a blog post, messed it up and lost more than half my work.
When will I learn to write my stuff on a WP document and not in a web browser?
Anyway – I remembered most of it, re-wrote it and published it for you to read. A short profile of Alwen Lyons OBE (pictured), who is giving evidence to the Inquiry today.
Don’t forget you can sign up to receive blog posts soon after they are published by putting your email address into the relevant sign-up box on the Post Office Scandal website.
Moorhead vs Clarke
Hot on the heals of his (five!) substack posts on Brian Altman KC’s evidence to the Inquiry, Richard Moorhouse has started digging into Simon Clarke’s day in the chair. So far he’s only knocked out two posts (come on, Richard), but they are very good:
Clarke I: His first coincidental error, and
Do subscribe to Richard’s substack on the Post Office Scandal. It’s bent towards legal types and the problems they wrestle with, but they are an education to read. Doing so is free.
Revving up
Whilst I am more intrigued by the supporting cast of execs around Paula Vennells (Lyons, Bourke, Davies, Crichton, Crowe, Aujard and Rodric in particular), most people are focused on the Pious One herself. To that end, there are plenty of pieces previewing Vennells’ three days at the Inquiry this week. Here are a selection:
Five questions for ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells – BBC
Post Office scandal: how did Paula Vennells, an ordained priest, fall so far and so fast from grace? – The Guardian
Vennells ‘heading into corner where there’s no way out’ before inquiry showdown – Evening Standard
I wrote The Ballad of Paula Vennells in Feb 2019 before anyone in authority decided anyone at the Post Office had done anything wrong.
Two years later I charted the slow implosion of Vennells’ reputation and career. In a piece for the Times yesterday, Tom Witherow adds a neat detail to Vennells’ resignation from her NHS Trust Chair – she clung on until another exec threatened to resign themselves.
In another plug for Richard Moorhead’s work, do have a look at a post he wrote a while back on his other legal ethics blog site. It’s called Mutually Assured Irresponsibility and I think it is the argument Vennells will seek to run over the next three days, which is basically:
“I’m not a lawyer. We had a legal problem. We got the best legal advisors money could buy and they told us what to do/everything was fine. I was not qualified to question their expertise, so I followed their advice.”
There are gaping holes in this stance, but it is both plausible and non-criminal. I expect it will wash with the Inquiry Chair and the CPS. Unless, of course, the Inquiry lawyers have turned up a smoking gun.
I have seen at least one email which shows some members of Vennells’ clique of execs (not all of whom are named above) deliberately withholding information from her. Now that’s when it gets interesting.
Onwards
Right, I’ve probably given you enough to read for now. Thanks very much for all your correspondence, and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers.
You can follow my live tweets of Alwen Lyons’ evidence here, or wait for the report which will appear at some stage after proceedings end on the Post Office Scandal website.
Have a good day.
Nick