Archives :
Inquiry
-
Ed Davey: Chocolate Teapot
I lost patience with Ed Davey at around 2.30pm this afternoon. It was when Jason Beer read into the record the sheer number of red flags being waved in Ed Davey’s face about the Post Office’s behaviour and its dodgy Horizon IT system from the moment he took office. On 20 May 2010, the day…
-
Pat’s Proof Points (and other McFadden Mantras)
Former Post Office minister (2007 – 2010) Pat McFadden didn’t have to say much to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, but he did have to say something. Being a campaign-hardened and experienced politician, he had no qualms about saying very little lots of times. McFadden was asked (in a number of ways) why he…
-
Comical Ken and Captain Kelly
Ken McCall was brought into the Post Office in 2016 as a non-executive director (NED) because the Post Office chairman Tim Parker thought he would be a “good fit”. We were told this was because of McCall’s experience running a delivery business (TNT) in China and being responsible for EuropCar and its IT function in…
-
Andy Dunks’ Big Problem
Fujitsu’s Andy Dunks has a problem. He signed dozens, possibly hundreds of witness statements attesting to the integrity of the Horizon IT system without, it seems, taking the relevant amount of care to see if the information he put in his witness statements was true. These witness statements were used in the successful prosecutions of…
-
Davey briefed to dismiss Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance Concerns in 2010
The first meeting between Alan Bates from the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and a government minister took place on 5 October 2010. Ed Davey was, at the time, the Liberal Democrat minister responsible for the Post Office within the coalition government. The date was crucial: the trial of Seema Misra was less than a…
-
Read stands aside to focus on Inquiry
Nick Read is stepping back from frontline duties as Post Office CEO to focus on Phase 7 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. In an all-staff newsletter, sent today, Read wrote: “Following a discussion with Post Office Chair, Nigel Railton and the Board, we have agreed that I should give my entire attention to…
-
Poor Tom
Tom Cooper was pitched into the Post Office madness quite late in the scandal. He joined UK Government Investments in 2017, and became UKGI’s man on the Post Office board in March 2018 whilst it was already embroiled in litigation with with its Subpostmasters and careering towards the first of two disastrous High Court trials.…
-
Robert Swannell – Culture, Curiosity and Risk
Robert Swannell is a former accountant and barrister with more than thirty years experience as an investment banker and director of large companies (including six years as chair of Marks and Spencer). He is therefore a big deal. Big deals rarely feel they get things wrong. Swannell had two articles of faith – the first…
-
Down ShEx – UKGI on heat (maps) and relish
Mark Russell has, in one form or another, been involved in the corporate governance of the Post Office from 2004 to today. He joined the government’s Shareholder Executive (ShEx) in 2004, became its CEO and then in 2014, when ShEx was absorbed into UK Government Investments (UKGI) he became CEO of that body until 2019…
-
Post Office Chairman Tim Parker: Fatalistic Attraction
The morning started on a light note. After Tim Parker had been sworn in, Jason Beer KC, who was asking questions on behalf of the Inquiry, took him to paragraph 268 of his 136 page witness statement. Beer told the Inquiry that Parker had written about the Post Office appointing “a criminal with extensive experience…