Post Office bosses had “no appetite” to exonerate subpostmasters who were wrongly prosecuted over the Horizon IT scandal, its former chairman claimed yesterday.
Henry Staunton also argued the state-owned firm and the government “dragged their feet” over paying compensation. He became chairman in 2022 but was sacked by Tory then-Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch in January.
He claimed that, upon joining, management were reluctant to accept High Court judgments that the Post Office had been wrong to pursue prosecutions. “They didn’t fully accept it, that was my impression; that somehow the case hadn’t been put well or whatever,” Mr Staunton told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Mr Staunton, who accused the last government of wanting to delay payments to subpostmasters until after the general election, claimed there was “no appetite for exoneration”. A letter from former Post Office chief executive Nick Read to the government, saying it would stand by prosecutions of around half the subpostmasters, was sent less than a week after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office was aired.
Mr Staunton also denied using racist or misogynist comments following a meeting concerning candidates to chair the Post Office’s remuneration committee. Ms Badenoch said she was forced to intervene over “difficulties” with Post Office governance, leading to a public row between the pair.
She went on to say he was being investigated over bullying allegations prior to his dismissal. Mr Staunton told the inquiry that his “willingness to contradict the Post Office orthodoxy on the treatment of postmasters meant my card was marked”.
He said he was a “champion of diversity”, and colleagues had raised concerns about the investigation into his comments being “contrived, unfair and bizarre”.
In his witness statement, Mr Staunton said: “I deny those allegations completely, and felt deeply stung. I find racism and misogyny utterly abhorrent. This was well-known to my colleagues at the Post Office. By way of example only, I responded strongly when I became aware that the Post Office had used racist terms to categorise postmasters.
“I told senior leadership that I was furious on behalf of our minority ethnic staff, and indeed all our colleagues. In the subsequent board meeting when we discussed this matter, I said the company’s employees felt let down and questioned how we had managed to score ‘this huge own goal’.”
Mr Staunton said he attended an interview with barrister Marianne Tutin, who was probing a complaint made by former Post Office HR director Jane Davies in late January. He said he was “shocked” at Ms Badenoch’s “baseless” words in the Commons that he was being probed for bullying. He added: “I had been more than willing to co-operate with the investigation as it was important to me to clear my name.”
More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999-2015 after Horizon accounting software made it look like money was missing from their shops. Their fight was spearheaded by wronged postal worker Alan Bates. Hundreds are still awaiting compensation despite the previous government announcing those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.