Watching the Post Office inquiry this week, we saw hapless former Post Office bosses being wheeled out to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” What was instantly apparent was that no matter how important these people had been, nor how highly paid, none of them seemed even now to realise what they had collectively done.
We saw foolishness and incompetence on display, but worse was that amidst the wreckage of this catastrophic corporate failure and the ruined lives of hundreds of ordinary people, there was the sense that they still don’t get it. None of them showed shame. None accepted responsibility. None perceived themselves to have been in any way the controlling mind of the company. At most they felt they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no compassion for the victims.
What is clear is that there was misconduct in public office; misconduct which includes the Post Office board but importantly extends beyond it. The directors perceive the Government, who is the sole shareholder, to be the controlling mind and that they themselves to be only doing its bidding. This will not wash as a defence, but it is fact that in 2018/19 the Treasury signed off the spending of £100m of taxpayers’ money to fight the sub postmasters in court. The objective was to silence the sub postmasters and protect the Post Office brand. This was despite knowing that the Horizon system was flawed, and that sub postmasters must therefore have been wrongfully convicted. Without Government backing and taxpayers’ money this could not have happened. The shareholders of any ordinary company would never have permitted their company to wilfully squander their money to hide executive wrongdoing. Treasury officials in office at this time did just this and must now face charges of misconduct in public office, alongside those at the Department for Business. It was wilful. It was gross abuse of public trust and funds. It was criminal.
Justice is more than just compensation. No amount of money can make good the suffering and destruction of the lives of innocent sub postmasters and their families. Justice means that those who were responsible are held to account. Those who committed these crimes must be prosecuted and convicted. That is what justice demands.
Pictured: Lucy Allan MP with sub postmasters in Westminster Hall - March 2020 and Sir Alex Chisholm Principal Accounting Officer for the Post Office 2016-2020, who approved the award of a CBE to Paula Venells CEO of the Post Office in 2019.
