Careful, Hugh

Sorry, this is very rushed. I got asked to go on the Today programme at the last minute to talk about the confirmation of the new Post Office Chair, Nigel Railton. It is good to see that Nigels are still being given a fair crack of the whip in the corporate world. I didn’t say that on air. If you want to have a listen, click here and go to the last 10 mins of the feed. I was a bit garbled.

Harry Bowyer continues

The inquiry hearing for today is just about to start with the second day’s evidence of former Cartwright King barrister Harry Bowyer. You can watch it live here or follow me writing about it on twitter.

The first witness yesterday was Hugh Flemington, former Head of Legal at the Post Office, and a very careful man.

I wrote up his evidence here. If you want to see it in real time with documents, here is a link to all my tweets on a single page.

Fiona Barker from the Daily Telegraph, who is sitting next to me again today, wrote this report: Former Post Office legal boss ‘can’t recall’ reading crucial document

and John Hyde from the Law Gazette (who was sitting behind us) wrote this: Lawyer warned of giving ‘ammunition’ to Post Office victims.

Other things

Six more Scottish Subpostmaster convictions were quashed yesterday. Congratulations to all involved and to former Subpostmaster Chris Head, who alerted me to it. Here’s a link to the judgment (thanks Chris!).

The third reading of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill went before parliament yesterday. 23 Postmasters in Northern Ireland will no definitely get their convictions quashed, but there is no succour for the Scottish Subpostmasters. Here’s the full text of the debate.

Legal ethicist Richard Moorhead has an interesting take on former Post Office General Counsel Susan Crichton. Here’s my analysis of her oral evidence for contrast. He’s fairer and kinder than me. I still think there’s much more she could have done, and didn’t.

Thank you to everyone who has alerted me to the mention in dispatches during a speech by the Lady Chief Justice. Here’s the speech and here’s Joshua Rozenberg’s take. He was also mentioned. If you have an interest in law, do subscribe to Joshua’s newsletter.

Right. Harry Bowyer has been speaking for half an hour, and I am in the Inquiry room half-listening. I am going to catch up on the live feed and hopefully get close to real time before lunch.

Thanks for signing up and thanks for all the emails. Apologies if I haven’t responded personally. I do read every one and I am grateful.

Best

Nick

Post Office Scandal – The Inside Story

In April and May 2024, I’ll be visiting various theatres in towns around England.

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.