Post Office boss under investigation as top brass squabble over compensation and blame

The head of the Post Office is the subject of an internal investigation, a former chair of the organisation told a Commons committee on Tuesday, highlighting the disarray at the top of the group.

During an extraordinary hearing in parliament, Henry Staunton also reignited a furious row with the business secretary Kemi Badenoch, saying he had been the victim of a “smear campaign” after he said he was told to delay payments to subpostmasters.

But lead campaigner Alan Bates, a former subpostmaster, told MPs the government should just “get on and pay people”. He also described the Post Office as a “dead duck” and said it should be sold off for £1 to Amazon.

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 because of Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear money was missing from their branches.

Hundreds, including Mr Bates, whose story was told in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, are still awaiting compensation.

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In a sometimes explosive evidence session, Mr Staunton told MPs on the business and trade committee that he stood by his claim a top Whitehall official told him to stall on compensation payouts.

That was disputed by Post Office CEO Nick Read, who told MPs he did not believe anyone at the company was told by the government to slow down payments.

Mr Staunton, who was sacked by Ms Badenoch last month, has said the move would help the Tories “hobble” into the election.

In response, Ms Badenoch accused him of a “blatant attempt to seek revenge following dismissal”.

But Mr Staunton told the committee: “Why does everything remain so slow? I’ve spoken up on matters of genuine public concern, have been fired, and am now subject to a smear campaign.” He also said that Mr Read had threatened to quit because he was “unhappy with his pay”.

He also rejcted Ms Badenoch’s claims he was under investigation, saying: “This is an investigation, not into me, this is an investigation… into the chief executive Nick Read.”

He said that an 80-page report, prepared by the company’s human resources director about Mr Read, contained just one paragraph on his behaviour, claiming “politically incorrect comments attributed to me which I strenuously deny”.

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The report was written after Mr Read “fell out” with the HR director, Mr Staunton said. He also told MPs that Mr Read had threatened to resign on a number of occassions – just an hour after Mr Read denied he had ever tried to quit.

Their testimony left MPs scratching thier heads, with committee chair Liam Byrne saying Mr Staunton gave “bombshell revelations about a boardroom that is in disarray, a chief executive [Nick Read] that is under investigation and a chief executive who has sought to resign, even though he told us on oath that he has not”.

In another twist, a director at the Post Office, Ben Tidswell, told staff after the hearing: “To my knowledge he has never tendered his resignation.”

Mr Staunton said the 80-page document “alleges… that Nick was going to resign because he was unhappy with this pay”.

He added that he himself “must have had four conversations when he said he was going to chuck it in”.

One MP on the committee, Tory Jonathan Gullis, called the admission a “shambles” and said: “There may be another drama: Mr Read and Mr Staunton vs the Post Office.”

The department for Business and Trade later confirmed that Mr Read was under investigation, but said it would await the outcome “before making any further judgement”.

In his evidence, Mr Read also warned correct legislation must be put in place if “mass exoneration is the right thing” in relation to convicted subpostmasters – adding that the process “may well” result in guilty people being absolved.

Mr Bates also told MPs he had considered getting all the former subpostmasters involved in the initial High Court case to “stand as MPs when the next election comes”, adding: “Then we’ll sort it out once and for all.”

Meanwhile, Mr Bates told the committee that the government should “pay” the subpostmasters affected. “We keep coming back to this time after time after time – pay people.

“There’s a lot of distractions, a lot of other things brought up, thrown up all the time – but just get on and pay people.”

He said: “My personal view about [the] Post Office is it’s a dead duck and it has been for years, and it’s going to be a moneypit for the taxpayer in the years to come.”

He added: “You should sell it to someone like Amazon for £1, get really good contracts for all the serving sub-postmasters and within a few years you’ll have one of the best networks around Britain.”

Mr Bates also said he could see no end to the scandal: “It’s very disappointing and this has been going on for years, as you well know, and I can’t see any end to it.”