Furious inquiry chair hits out at Post Office accused of trying to hide ‘n-word’

The chair of an inquiry into the Post Office scandal has hit out at accusations of attempts to conceal documents using the “n-word”.

Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams accused the Post Office of “grossly unsatisfactory” and “significant” failings to disclose important and necessary documents.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, journalist Nick Wallis, one of the UK’s leading experts on the Post Office scandal, said “deeply offensive racial classification codes” were used in the documents, which were revealed in May in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by a campaigner.

The Independent subsequently uncovered the use of the n-word in a string of official documents since the beginning of July.

Mr Wallis said: “The fact that the Post Office, while it was prosecuting subpostmasters, as late as 2013 was using the term ‘N*****d’ and designating subpostmasters according to these codes, rather than actually asking them how they would prefer to be racially identified, suggests that something had gone horrendously wrong within the Post Office.”

Mr Wallis said concerns mounted to the point that Sir Wyn has threatened criminal sanctions in the future if it turns out that the Post Office is deliberately withholding documents. Currently, the lack of disclosure of thousands of potentially relevant documents stems from “ineptitude” at a minimum, Mr Wallis added.

The ongoing inquiry investigating the wrongful prosecution of more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses (SPMs) for theft, fraud and false accounting was dramatically halted to allow for a hearing this week, which is looking into the Post Office’s disclosure failures following the uncovering of its use of racist language.

Labour MP Kim Johnson said the use of racist language by the Post Office was “yet another slap in the face” and said institutions appeared to be “bending over backwards to duck accountability”.

She told The Independent: “That this language was reportedly taken from the Metropolitan police as late as 2013 is even more concerning. The fact that they are reportedly refusing to comply with an FOI on the issue – to the point where the ICO have now stepped into demand their response – just beggars belief.”

She added: “This is just the latest in a long line of scandals regarding of the use of racist language in state institutions in the 21st century, and a reminder of the legacy of colonialism. We need an apology, we need action, and above all we need the truth. We need an end to this ongoing use of racist terminology and I renew my calls for a government wide inquiry.”

The first report by this newspaper revealed that the DWP had used the n-word in guidance documents for doctors.

Campaigning hard on the issue, The Independent highlighted that the term had also featured in Met Office documents and even the royal family was dragged into the row when the offensive slur appeared in the Royal Collection.

A startling development came when The Independent revealed that the n-word was used in two separate asylum tribunal decisions, referring to the applicants’ ethnicity as “N*****d”.

In August, the Cabinet Office finally announced a crackdown with minister Jeremy Quin writing to all permanent secretaries warning that racist language would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, Mr Wallis said the Metropolitan Police has refused to tell him when they stopped using the n-word to the point that the Information Commissioners Office has ordered the force to disclose the information.

He said: “There’s something that’s sort of rumbling under here, which is deeply offensive to many ethnic groups about the way that they were classified by both the Post Office and the police - and what it did was it managed to prove to the inquiry that the Post Office was not disclosing all the documents that it was legally obliged to do.”

A Tory cabinet minister issued a warning to all Whitehall departments that racism would not be tolerated after The Independent revealed the use of the n-word in a slew of government documents.

The word “N*****d” and other slurs were uncovered in Department for Work and Pension (DWP) guidance, immigration tribunal decisions, and on the Foreign Office and the government’s websites – sparking outrage from MPs and campaigners.

In a direct response to The Independent’s investigation, Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin wrote to the permanent secretaries in all government departments to remind them “we do not tolerate racist, homophobic, sexist or any similarly unacceptable language”.

The minister ordered civil service chiefs to remind staff of government guidance when discussing ethnicity – telling them to make sure that it is easily accessible to all staff and associated organisations.

The news of government action came in response to a letter by Labour MP Kim Johnson, who said the use of racist language in official documents was “utterly outrageous” and demanded a review.

Ms Johnson said the warning was “certainly welcome given the revelations of the use of racist language in government documents due to the diligent work done by The Independent’s journalists”.