Stop the blame games and put the Post Office scandal victims first

A new drama is being staged at the Westminster Palace of Varieties, which we may call “Ms Badenoch vs the Post Office (Chairman)”. It is likely to play out for a few days at least, and will – for those who follow these political dramas closely – be entertaining.

Kemi Badenoch, the combative business secretary, is never short of self-confidence but some observers wonder if the pretty flat assertions she’s made in the Commons about the former chair of the Post Office, Henry Staunton, might have been a little rash.

She sacked Mr Staunton only three weeks ago, and her decision continues to be controversial, not least so far as Mr Staunton is concerned. He has had a distinguished career in business and does not accept Ms Badenoch’s reasons for dismissing him, nor the way in which it was done. She, in response, accuses him of spreading falsehoods – a serious allegation, made via social media and amplified under parliamentary privilege in the Commons.

Subplots have emerged concerning letters sent by a Post Office chief executive to the justice secretary, allegations about the culture at the top of the organisation, leaks about Mr Staunton’s dismissal made to Sky News, and questions about bullying.

If Mr Staunton responds to the claims made by the business secretary and provides sufficient evidence to suggest that what Ms Badenoch told the Commons was not accurate, then her political career will be brought to a premature end – or at least subject to a considerable pause as her party hurtles towards the wildness of opposition. If not, then Mr Staunton’s reputation will be diminished, fairly or not.

All of that, however, is a sideshow to the real, continuing tragedy inflicted on innocent subpostmasters by the Post Office scandal. Ms Badenoch and Mr Staunton can look after themselves perfectly well, but what the latest developments reveal is that far too many victims of the scandal are still waiting to get their money back – it was, after all, effectively stolen by the Post Office.

In addition, there should be adequate restitution for their loss of opportunities and reduced long-term standard of living as a result of the behaviour of the Post Office, Fujitsu and, indeed, the failures of successive ministers in all parties to exercise the proper level of curiosity and diligence over the scandal.

The extent of governmental failures is one aspect of the story that is attracting increasing attention. Some former postal affairs ministers (it is a long list) are still in prominent positions in public life – Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Labour campaign chief Pat McFadden, for example.

We now learn that ministers in the Cameron administration in 2016 were told that the Post Office had cancelled a confidential investigation that might have helped wrongly accused postmasters prove their innocence. The investigation, actually ordered by the Post Office auditors, Deloitte, entailed examining records of individual transactions. It apparently discovered that the notorious Horizon IT system could be accessed remotely – a fact consistently denied. However, after the aggrieved postmasters launched their legal action, the investigation was abandoned. What, if anything, ministers at the time – including Sajid Javid – did with the information has not been revealed.

In any case, the central fact remains that, more than two decades after the scandal began, some years after the government, Post Office and Fujitsu accepted at least some responsibility for destroying lives (including a number of suicides), and months since the ITV drama triggered public outrage, too many elderly victims still await justice and restitution.

It was, we should remind ourselves, the widest miscarriage of justice in British history, and there is a universal agreement that it needs to be put right without delay. Yet delays are endemic. The statutory inquiry is still rumbling on and people are still awaiting proper settlement (not just the initial sums on offer). The legislation to exonerate those concerned has been passed, with payouts of £600,000 and more to be made available, yet it seems few have been made. The Post Office (Horizon System) Compensation Act 2024 is designed to clear names but has not yet done so.

Earlier this year, Alan Bates, the ex-post office employee, campaigner and central character in the drama (real, and TV), described the most recent offer made to him as cruel and derisory – which suggests that many others less prominent or organised will be even worse off.

However serious or proven any of the claims and counterclaims being traded between Ms Badenoch and Mr Staunton turn out to be, they are as nothing to the continuing gravity of the situation facing thousands of dispossessed former Post Office personnel. The scandal is not over yet.