Archives :
Inquiry
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Post Office Paula in Pant Topper Showstopper
I suppose it was only a matter of time. Even so, the first Horizon IT Inquiry-themed post box topper to materialise in the UK is quite the talking point. The well-executed tableau appeared overnight last night. It immortalises a crucial week of the Inquiry in May this year, when Lead Counsel Jason Beer KC questioned…
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Ghost Storey
Usually when thinking about how to write a summary of the day’s evidence, there are one or two moments or lines which have made an impression. I’m struggling to think of anything Susannah Storey said during today’s session worth reporting. I realise I’m not exactly selling what you’re about to read, but it did feel…
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Asleep at the Neil
Neil McCausland was a non-executive director (NED) at the Post Office. In fact, he was the Senior Independent Director (SID), responsible during board meetings for robust examination of the executive’s actions and responsible outside board meetings for doing his research, marshalling the opinions of the other NEDs and communicating them to the Chair and executive…
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Furious Swinson claimed Paula Vennells deceived her
During her evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry former minister Jo Swinson today highlighted the mendacity of the Post Office and what she saw as the conniving “duplicitous” behaviour of her chief civil service advisor. It all centres on the first Clarke Advice, the legal document written in July 2013 which was kept…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…