Private Eye really going for the jugular now when it comes to the cosy threesome between Fujitsu, the Post Office and this government. Doesn't look like they went out of their way to find a Post Office Minister with no links to Fujitsu.
https://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/1752826544630722692
Whenever I read a political biography, it's always eyebrow raising how much they all know each other.
I really believe Mr Gilbert. I'm sure he is telling the truth.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68253136
I am somewhat confused about his, incorrect, argument the bbc hadnt picked up on it whilst he was in charge.
At the risk of pointing out the bloody obvious he had access to rather more information than them.
I don't know why I'm even surprised any more.
I really believe Mr Gilbert. I’m sure he is telling the truth.
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68253136
There's something interesting about old bad people coming out of the woodwork in this inquiry.
Not sure what but I might not look the same at a bus holiday group again, or people in garden centres. Not knowing many oldies, I might have and "old people are nice" blind spot from just knowing grandparents and a few of their friends. Truth is today's 70-80 year olds includes the workplace arseholes of the 1980s-2000s.
Not sure what but I might not look the same at a bus holiday group again, or people in garden centres. Not knowing many oldies, I might have and “old people are nice” blind spot from just knowing grandparents and a few of their friends. Truth is today’s 70-80 year olds includes the workplace arseholes of the 1980s-2000s.
Why would you think the current 70-80 years old are any different to any other age group you might choose to compare with? There are arseholes in every age group. Just because older people are now perhaps more frail and have reduced physical and maybe mental capability doesn't make them nicer, better than younger age groups. And everybody has a history..... good, bad, indifferent.
Looking at an old person now where they might be a bit bent over, walking slowly, unable to lift heavy weights etc doesn't necessarily bear any relationship to how they were when they were younger. I say this as a 76 year old.
Just not something I'd thought of that's all, it didn't surprise me.
seems bonkers if true
https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1758984603744739555?t=oeRJ7SeIeds-vrW8gooeDg&s=19
head of the past office says he has messages from government confirming it all
It's front page of the Times today. With full story on page 2.
Cynical mode on: I’m not so sure Kemi is interested in governance changes, as much as someone who can be relied on to downplay the role of the government in the cover-up and delay of the past decade.
Not too far off then. Looks like they picked him to just sit there contemplating retirement and picking up his cheque, then got a bit miffed when he actually started doing the job of a chairman, digging around, and generally being unhappy with the state of the business and the attitude of its only shareholder (HM Government).
It's been patently clear throughout that the government is uninterested in justice and fair compensation for the sub postmasters, why should anyone expect that to change except on a purely superficial level?
And in the Guardian/Observer too.
In their online addition, it’s currently below an article about how HMRC investigations into offshore tax dodging has halved in the past five years.
You’d think that with all the outrage this has rightfully generated, the sensible thing would be to do right by these people
Not Kemi Badanoch though.
The only think that matters to her is her leadership ambitions
Just when you think they can’t sink any lower, they always manage to pull it out of the bag
It's all just been a game.to the government since it came to light around 2012, the situation for all postmasters across the country (not just the convicted) has been used for political wrangling.
It's a tricky watch.
The dishonest head of a crooked organisation vs the dishonest representative of a different crooked organisation.
It's hard to root for either side.
Gov vs Staunton, I assume.
Kemi Badanoch was meant to make a statement to parliament this afternoon regarding her sacking of Post Office chairman Henry Staunton.
In what is now the usual ministerial style, she'll be sending a minion along on her behalf instead
He's claiming they told him to delay payments to postmasters and that he had to 'take the rap' for the delay in payments. She's saying that's a 'pack of lies'
Hmmmmmm... who to believe?
Indeed.
Kemi vs Staunton in 'someone is lying, but you know I'm trustworthy'
I am also astonished in News coverage just how small KemiB is. Is the entire govt made up of possessed action figures who have come to life to wreak evil?
In common with many of her present ministerial peers, she also appears to be as thick as a boxing day turd, yet be staggeringly arrogant and obnoxious with it.
That would explain why the membership all love her. She's a shoe in for the future leader of the party, apparently
It'll be interesting to hear the cooked up work of fiction her minion will be sent off to read to the house this afternoon
she also appears to be as thick as a boxing day turd
par for the course in government to employ someone in a a role for which they have zero experience or expertise (bit of computer programmign and glorified admin assitant at Coutts) - ffs, how can anyone at her level think they know better than a time served Chairman - obnoxious and arrogant is only touching the surface.
if she ever was a shoehorn job for leadership i'd be praying for bojo again..
ffs, how can anyone at her level think they know better than a time served Chairman
Whilst I have no time for her the same could be asked about people daring to challenge a time served CEO like vennells.
Given he was brought in in 2022 I would give him some benefit of the doubt but considering the PO sat around for most of 2023 not a lot even if he is right about being told to sit around.
ffs, how can anyone at her level think they know better than a time served Chairman – obnoxious and arrogant is only touching the surface.
mmm... whilst I've no time for Kemi I'm not sure what the concept of a "time served Chairman" is or why anyone would assume that experienced company Chairmen are anything other that accomplished spin doctors, politicians (with a small p) and liers. Many have come from exactly the same sort of backgrounds as ministers, and just like MPs will have often trod on a few people to get to where they are in life.
playing devils advocate on Vennels, she achieved what she set out to do, which was to make the PO more profitable, the fact she hid a major issue which will have affected the PO's saleability is another matter. Chairmen -yes i too have mixed views having 'reported' to 3 of them, there are some very good ones that get there through a lot of epxerience - others via treading on people and just taking up a salary - the role of which i always find to be an odd one -a mix of experience to hand/guide to the CEO and also the "buffer" between shareholders and the operating board.
In common with many of her present ministerial peers, she also appears to be as thick as a boxing day turd, yet be staggeringly arrogant and obnoxious with it.
You just know she spent most of the weekend screaming down the phone at various hapless civil servants. I know it's hard to use the term 'unministerial' any more, as that ship sailed a while ago, but it must be an absolute nightmare to work with these people, as evidenced by this 'It's my last day!' tweet from someone with the Twitter password.
You just know she spent most of the weekend screaming down the phone at various hapless civil servants.
She also went on the offensive via ranting on Twitter, which is hardly very ministerial either.
Given that her 'I'm coming to the house of commons to provide proof' has now been downgraded to having a junior underling read a statement on her behalf, I'm expecting a lot of vague non-commital platitudes, probably after the lawyers have told her to wind her neck in
The whole Post Office scandal is a spot that Rishi desperately does not want squeezed any more in the run up to an election. Because if the whole truth comes out now, it will do a lot of damage to the government. The sensible thing to do in response to the Times story is to pretty much ignore it, but Kemi is as dumb as a sack of frogs and wants to turn everything into a do or die confrontation.
There comes a point when endlessly doubling down and issuing threats stops making you look powerful, and starts being a total liability.
I imagine someone Tucker-like has told her to STFU.
Hmmmmmmm....
Because if the whole truth comes out now, it will do a lot of damage to the government.
And yet if they had been sensible they could have turned it into a positive since whilst the tories hold a lot of the blame there would be enough to pass on to Labour and the lib dems. So if they had really jumped on it they could have come across as the fixers whilst blaming the others.
There comes a point when endlessly doubling down and issuing threats stops making you look powerful, and starts being a total liability.
Even then it can still work so long as the evidence is in your favour. I assume the rapid reverse ferret is due to someone going "ermmm, ahhhhh, boss I think he has a copy of this memo...."
No-one's backing down, but someone's got to be fibbing.
Who's got the docs to prove it?
I shouldn’t think that we’ll need to wait too long to find the answer to that particular cliffhanger.
The way she came out punching today had a touch of the Johnathan Aitkin about it though.
The Times will probably already have the applicable incriminating documents ready to go on tomorrow’s front page
Looks like Staunton was a meticulous contemporaneous record taker. He went as far as to email these so they would be date-stamped by the PO's internal email system. Which also shows that he was an accurate judge of character of those he was dealing with.
Nothing that Badenoch has come up with so far backs up her claim that he lied out of bitterness at his dismissal. All hot air and bluster.
So she has possibly lied to the House, and defamed Staunton on Twitter. I do hope there are some corroborating documents ready to go.
It could be that someone at the Times has been asked to put a pin in Kemi's obvious leadership ambitions. If she's fallen into what should have been an obvious trap from her position, she has no leadership or political abilities anyway.
The scandal is just getting worse and worse the deeper it's dug into....
BBC News - Cameron government knew Post Office ditched Horizon IT investigation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68146054
read that with increasing incredulity
the line 'refused to comment while the public inquiry is ongoing ' is piss boiling
he line ‘refused to comment while the public inquiry is ongoing ‘ is piss boiling
And, remarkably, the person who conducted the review is not appearing before that inquiry. Hopefully something that can be fixed.
So much hinges on when PO Ltd and the Government were told that Fujitsu could remotely access these branch Horizon machines, and what they did with that information (Spoiler: They did nothing, just covered it up while Sub Postmasters rotted in prison or killed themselves)
i think it's worse by they actively tried to hide the fact whilst the postmasters started their legal challenge
anyway badenochs BS coming unstuck?
https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1759911840518185094?t=qCyIFItHjToAo_CGfMGA8A&s=19
And so the saga goes on and the Post Office not going down without fighting....
In fairness, is that also not what some of the Postmasters want - they are broadly against a blanket overturning because there are some (and I have no idea how many ie whether 369 is a vaguely likely let alone correct number) who were fiddling and if they are let off as well, then the genuinely innocent will always feel still somewhat tarnished (again, so impressed by their own integrity in the face of none from elsewhere)
If some of these convictions did not rely on Horizon evidence, or only partially and there was other evidence that was examined and which results in guilt, should that not be raised?
And yes, fully aware that better that 10 guilty men walk free than one innocent man hangs; also the dichotomy of wanting it sorted properly but also fast because people are struggling and even dying in the meantime (interim payments, possibly? but how you get them back if people are subsequently truly guilty)
I don't know one postoffice within our local group chat that wants blanket over turning of convictions.
It's a political play to try to win the election, trying to make up for government mismanagement of the situation, rather than carry on with proper investigation that's again been delayed and hindered for political gain.
This is also worth a read:
The postoffice counter in our shop would need to sell 300 stamps per hour (for the 53hrs a week we offer postoffice servies) to meet one members of staff minimum wage.
Do you have to run a post office or can you refuse and close it ?
We could refuse and close it, but it's classed as an 'essential service'. In our case that would put our lease at risk and open a tin of worms.
It's also what rural communities value the most from rural shops.
When we took on our shop, two months into running the PO we had a random £650 negative on our cash up in month. We threatened closing the PO as our renumeration was around 250 a month at that point and we were fresh into the business. After days of stress PO relinquished and said it was a bug and wrote it off...
i accept it's what people want... but that doesn't mean it's wise to run one..
The lease context though must obviously change that somewhat.
Yes, our landlord 'could' chuck us out, when you've invested everything into a site that could be an issue.
The PO is cirtainly not a money maker though, it's time consuming, involves lots of staff training, little to no support and high risk. Years ago, when staff were paid a wage by PO it was a different matter.
While legislation to overturn a 'set' of convictions is not ideal, at this stage it's necessary to get justice and recompense in the hands of those who need it most. At one stage the SPMs were probably dying quicker than they were being exonerated. It doesn't excuse the government sitting on its hands, or actively obstructing the process in the years beforehand, and I don't think this will get them off the hook as further evidence emerges.
As for the 'yes, but some of the WERE stealing' argument, it's patently bullshit, and the PO don't get to use it at this stage.
Even if some of the cases were not 100% linked to Horizon evidence, we've heard enough testimony about the methods and approach used by the Post Office Investigations teams (bullying, failure to disclose evidence etc) to know that ANY conviction secured by them in the past couple of decades is suspect and could be challenged on that basis alone. Even those where admissions were secured are suspect, as there is evidence of innocent subpostmasters confessing simply due to the tactics and pressure applied by the investigation teams, just trying to stay out of prison.
If it means some actual thieves 'get away with it', or get compensation to which they are not entitled, so be it. It's the price of running a rotten, shambolic organisation and Nick Read should be utterly ashamed to be employing this as an argument at this point. The corruption and delusion is still embedded in Post Office Ltd culture, they are still employing many of these bullies and liars. They even had to get rid of a new Chairman who came in with the energy to tackle that culture.
