Post Office Scandal

Reporting the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal

Post Office Scandal

Reporting the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal

Clark and Cable: Responsible for everything, accountable for nothing

Nick Wallis

Thu 25 July 2024

19 comments
12 min read

Two Secretaries of State, whose tenure in office covered significant periods of the Post Office scandal gave evidence at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry today. They are the most senior ranked and last politicians to give evidence in this phase, and some of what they had to say was illuminating, but not much. Vince Cable was business secretary during the coalition government from 2010 to 2015. Greg Clark held the same post for the duration of Theresa May’s government, from 2016 to 2019. Clark made it clear he had no love for the Post Office given the way they…
Read More…: Clark and Cable: Responsible for everything, accountable for nothing

Second Sight’s final report

Nick Wallis

Wed 24 July 2024

11 comments
1 min read

Earlier this year I published Second Sight’s Interim Report, which was first published on the Post Office website on 8 July 2013 and removed several…
Read More…: Second Sight’s final report

Live Tweets

Sir Vince Cable

Live Tweets

Thu 25 Jul 2024

Live tweets from Day 171 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Margot James

Live Tweets

Wed 24 Jul 2024

Live tweets from Day 170 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Jo Swinson

Live Tweets

Fri 19 Jul 2024

Live tweets from Day 168 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.

The Wine Gums vs The Blob

Nick Wallis Wed 24 July 2024 15 Comments

Margot James giving evidence remotely to the Inquiry today Putting together a list of Postal Affairs ministers a few years back I was reminded of a graffito written shortly after the 33 day papacy of John Paul I, which asked: “What lasts longer, a pope or a wine gum?” It…

A Trip down Misery Lane: Surviving the Post Office on BBC1

Nick Wallis Mon 22 July 2024 26 Comments

Will Mellor (l) and Lee Castleton Surviving the Post Office (co-produced and co-directed by Hayley Hassall, who has previously reported on the story) has something of the travelogue about it. Will Mellor, who played former Subpostmaster Lee Castleton in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, presents. Mellor…

Furious Swinson claimed Paula Vennells deceived her

Nick Wallis Fri 19 July 2024 51 Comments

Jo Swinson During her evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry former minister Jo Swinson today highlighted the mendacity of the Post Office and what she saw as the conniving “duplicitous” behaviour of her chief civil service advisor. It all centres on the first Clarke Advice, the legal document…

Ed Davey: Chocolate Teapot

Nick Wallis Thu 18 July 2024 54 Comments

Sir Edward Davey, former Post Office minister I lost patience with Ed Davey at around 2.30pm this afternoon. It was when Jason Beer read into the record the sheer number of red flags being waved in Ed Davey’s face about the Post Office’s behaviour and its dodgy Horizon IT system…

Pat’s Proof Points (and other McFadden Mantras)

Nick Wallis Thu 18 July 2024 17 Comments

Pat McFadden Former Post Office minister (2007 – 2010) Pat McFadden didn’t have to say much to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, but he did have to say something. Being a campaign-hardened and experienced politician, he had no qualms about saying very little lots of times. McFadden was asked…

Comical Ken and Captain Kelly

Nick Wallis Wed 17 July 2024 30 Comments

(l-r) Ken McCall, The Rt Hon Kelly Tolhurst Ken McCall was brought into the Post Office in 2016 as a non-executive director (NED) because the Post Office chairman Tim Parker thought he would be a “good fit”. We were told this was because of McCall’s experience running a delivery business…

Andy Dunks’ Big Problem

Nick Wallis Tue 16 July 2024 60 Comments

Andy Dunks giving evidence today Fujitsu’s Andy Dunks has a problem. He signed dozens, possibly hundreds of witness statements attesting to the integrity of the Horizon IT system without, it seems, taking the relevant amount of care to see if the information he put in his witness statements was true….

Davey briefed to dismiss Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance Concerns in 2010

Nick Wallis Mon 15 July 2024 19 Comments

Sir Alan Bates and Sir Ed Davey The first meeting between Alan Bates from the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and a government minister took place on 5 October 2010. Ed Davey was, at the time, the Liberal Democrat minister responsible for the Post Office within the coalition government. The…

Post Office scandal: More Convictions Quashed!

Nick Wallis Thu 25 January 2024

plus: The Weeping Policeman Lucy, Kathleen and Katy Crane celebrate Kathleen’s conviction being quashed this morning…

Post Office scandal: Week of the weak investigators

Nick Wallis Tue 23 January 2024

plus: news lines round-up Former Post Office Investigator Robert Daily – a man who accidentally put…

Post Office scandal: Fujitsu voluntarily stops bidding for govt contracts

Nick Wallis Fri 19 January 2024

plus: Back to the Valleys Steve Phillips – serving Subpostmaster and one of the 555 High…

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Post Office Scandal – a website dedicated to covering the multi-faceted, ongoing, Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

My name is Nick Wallis, I am a journalist and I am responsible for the content on this website. You can contact me here.

I have written a book called The Great Post Office Scandal, fronted a Radio 4 series, co-written a Private Eye special and been involved in three Panoramas as (variously) producer, presenter and consultant.

The predecessor to this website is Post Office Trial, which covered the Bates v Post Office High Court litigation and the subsequent hearings at the Court of Appeal.

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Hello, my name is Nick Wallis. I am a freelance journalist. This website is designed to be a hub for my activity reporting the Post Office Horizon Scandal. Most of the work I have done on this story is crowdfunded. The crowdfunding pays for the journalism on this website. Occasionally I get lucky and someone pays me to do a bit of broadcast or newspaper journalism, which I am always grateful for. I have presented, produced and consulted on three BBC Panoramas about the Post Office scandal. I have written about it for Private Eye (with the genius that is…

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Post Office Scandal

Post Office Scandal

Clark and Cable: Responsible for everything, accountable for nothing

Second Sight’s final report

Sir Vince Cable

Margot James

Jo Swinson

The Wine Gums vs The Blob

A Trip down Misery Lane: Surviving the Post Office on BBC1

Furious Swinson claimed Paula Vennells deceived her

Ed Davey: Chocolate Teapot

Pat’s Proof Points (and other McFadden Mantras)

Comical Ken and Captain Kelly

Andy Dunks’ Big Problem

Davey briefed to dismiss Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance Concerns in 2010

Post Office scandal: More Convictions Quashed!

Post Office scandal: Week of the weak investigators

Post Office scandal: Fujitsu voluntarily stops bidding for govt contracts

Welcome

Live Events

Podcast

35: Ep35 – Paul Scully MP, former Post Office minister – Investigating the Post Office Scandal

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Horizon Scandal Fund

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