Times Publishes Ex-Post Office Chair Memo In Push Back To Business Secretary’s Branding Him A Liar

Former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton published a memo in the Times Wednesday that backs his claim that he was advised by a top civil servant to “hobble” into the general election without “ripping off the band aid” in terms of compensation payments to subpostmasters.

The memo appears to contradict Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s narrative of events around his dismissal and the government’s commitment to ex-subpostmaster compensation, after she labelled Staunton’s allegations as “completely false” and accused him of spreading “made-up anecdotes and a series of falsehoods.”

The new evidence, however, suggests a deliberate government strategy to minimise financial scrutiny ahead of the election, further raising serious questions about the government’s commitment to addressing the Post Office’s challenges and compensation.

The memo, which Staunton unearthed in response to Badenoch’s allegations of lying, records a conversation with Sarah Munby, the then business department’s permanent secretary. Munby allegedly warned Staunton against dealing with long-term issues, suggesting “politicians do not necessarily like to confront reality.” This advice was given despite the Post Office grappling with a financial shortfall of £160 million and facing the potential closure of numerous branches without government intervention.

In an interview with the Sunday Times earlier this week, Staunton, who was ousted as chairman last month, accused an unnamed senior Whitehall official of instructing him to “stall” compensation to sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted due to the flawed Horizon system. The system inaccurately reported missing funds across numerous branches between 1999 and 2015, leading to a series of unjust criminal convictions.

Staunton also told the Sunday Times that Badenoch told him that “someone’s got to take the rap” for the Horizon scandal and that he discovered his dismissal following a phone call from Sky News. This led to questions for Badenkoch from the opposition who slipped that she had tried to stop the leaked news of Staunton’s dismissal.

Badenkoch initially hit back against the claims made in the Sunday Times interview with a rant on X and again in Commons this week.

The government denied the claims about delaying compensation and the Business Secretary went on to tell MPs in Commons that she dismissed Staunton “because there were serious concerns about his behaviour as chair, including those raised from other directors on the board”.

She said: “[It’s] so disappointing that he’s chosen to spread a series of falsehoods, provide made-up anecdotes to journalists and leak discussions held in confidence.”

As the saga wears on, Staunton, standing by his comments, published Wednesday’s memo and has played the ball back at Badenkoch.