Stamp of approval: Mr Bates vs The Post Office, aired this week, has brought to broader public attention the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history
Millions of television viewers have been horrified by the impact of the Horizon IT scandal, brought to their screens this week in a shocking mini-series. According to one MP, the government can’t do enough for ‘those who have been pummeled by a state-owned institution’
A south London Conservative MP has hailed this week’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office television drama as “brilliant” and “exhilarating”, and has admitted that he wept while watching it. But Paul Scully wouldn’t be alone in that respect…
Shed a tear: MP Paul Scully
The Horizon IT scandal that is the subject of the drama is the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
The shocking programme, starring Toby Jones and Monica Dolan, is about the 20-year battle of the nation’s sub-postmasters to get justice from the Post Office, who equipped them with a bug-ridden IT system and then prosecuted hundreds of them for theft and fraud.
The TV series has focused public attention on a national scandal which was ignored and dismissed by a series of Scully’s former colleagues over at least the past 14 years.
Scully, a former postal affairs minister, said last night, “I don’t think that government can do enough and they certainly can’t do it quickly enough for those who have been pummeled by a state-owned institution.”
Sub-postmasters are the people who operate post office businesses in corner stores, chemist shops and assorted outlets in every town and village, suburb and hamlet in the country. The Horizon IT saga traces its origins to government-initiated PPI schemes from the end of the last century, yet even today, almost 2,000 sub-postmasters who have applied for compensation have been left waiting by the Post Office.
The Post Office has already paid out £17.5million in compensation for the prosecutions that it brought and which have been overturned.
National hero: the real Alan Bates
The human costs, though, can never be made good: as well as sub-postmasters’ children being bullied at school, family members suffering mental health issues and breakdowns, it is reckoned at least four sub-postmasters have taken their own lives as a consequence of the stress and pressures created by the false accusations, as was so graphically depicted in last night’s episode.
The fourth and final episode of the ITV mini-series airs tonight from 9pm, with a follow-up documentary to come, too.
Scully is the Tory MP for Sutton and Cheam who had a spell as the Government’s minister for postal affairs (among several other positions).
After he was sacked by Rishi Sunak two months ago, Scully wrote that “definitely the best thing I’ll ever do in politics was to start the statutory inquiry into the Horizon scandal and begin the long road for the original 555 postmasters to get compensation”.
The inquiry began in September 2020. Last week, it was reported that the inquiry had produced enough evidence for police to investigate senior Post Office staff.
Postmasters have claimed that senior Post Office staff knew about the Fujitsu system’s failings or “shut their eyes” to them.
The toll of Horizon: the hard facts show the human cost
It is also emerging that a series of government ministers did much the same.
Last night, Scully tweeted: “Watching MrBates vs The PostOffice has been so difficult but also exhilarating that it’s now properly in the public eye.
“A brilliant drama which almost needed the statement ‘This is a true story’, repeated at every ad break, such was the brutality of the story…
“Alan Bates is rightly shown to be so dogged (I remember getting that invoice he’s sending in the last scene). Jo’s portrayal [Jo Hamilton, played by Dolan] was phenomenal.
“I quietly wept for a few hours whilst watching, reflecting on what I was then told and what more needs to be done.
Fellow feeling: MP Scully’s tweet last night after seeing Mr Bates v The Post Office
“I don’t think government can do enough and they certainly can’t do it quickly enough for those who have been pummeled by a state-owned institution, only a tiny few of whom were covered in the series…”.
And in a rare demonstration of modesty from a national politician, Scully added: “Much as I’m proud to have played a role in sorting this, I don’t deserve even a footnote in the story next to those who have actually suffered, lost, struggled, hurt and truly fought for their lives, families and their fellow postmasters. Thank you ITV for the airtime.”
And this morning, Scully said: “It’ll be an important step in justice to hold those to account who failed postmasters and worst of all, covered things up. The statutory inquiry should uncover much of this which can then be followed up.”
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All this being wise after the event by Politicians is all rather nauseous isn’t it. Scully’s lot has been in power for the entire time this scandal has unravelled and to be making political capital out of now is serving their interests and not the victims. The politicians were needed a long time ago to defend the powerless victims from abuse as it happened. We can see who the Captain Hindsights are here.
In fairness (when have you seen us write that about a politician before?) Scully did act when he had the power in 2020, to establish the statutory inquiry. It’s only really been since then that there has been any movement towards a satisfactory resolution – although even now, the Post Office has halved the amount set aside for compensation.
I’m so glad this got onto TV – it’s left me seething. The people at the Post Office and Fujitsu at the time were proper bullies, total cowards who couldn’t bear the idea of their shockingly badly written, bug-strewn Horizon software to become public knowledge. I listened to the BBC version of this in podcast form and it was difficult to listen to at points – much like this – difficult to watch.
The fact that these senior people at each organisation could perform these atrocities including “You’re the only one with the problem” to each and every sub-postmaster as well as lying through their back teeth about Fujitsu employees spending every night correcting bad data at each post office account is absolutely shameful. People died over this, lost their dignity, respect, livelihoods and so much else.
If it wasn’t for the brave man Alan Bates and the whistleblower at Fujitsu it’s quite possible nobody would have been any the wiser. And to top it all, giving the Post Office so much authority that even the police couldn’t touch them is beyond belief.
if this is the state of affairs of such a miscarriage of justice, which still hasn’t been properly compensated and sorted out after nearly two decades, imagine what else might be going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about.
This is a new low for our country, that’s for sure.
Any Croydon Labour party members (justifiably) criticising the Post Office and Fujitsu would do well to remember their party’s elite have broken the Data Protection Act and are standing by the clearly less than robust Anonyvoter software and its corrupt results
Excellent report.
This was a national Scandal and remains . People died , many became seriously ill , bankrupt and relationships failed .Children suffered .Many people still are stigmatised by the post office.
Heads at every single level must be seen to roll in Court .There needs to be accountability and justice . Justice delayed is Justice denied
There is a petition on 38 Degrees quite rightly calling for Paula Vennells to lose her CBE. Already in excess of a 100,000 signatures .
I haven’t watched the TV dramatisation but have listened to the BBC podcasts both when they first came out and again with the further episodes. They are a must to listen to as they have interviews with the actual individuals rather than actors. The BBC seemed to have missed the boat here.
Perhaps ITV could make a series on the NHS Infected Blood Scandal. Another national disgrace that currently is moving at a sub-snail’s pace.
It seems to be the national problem with our public services and some public companies too, that we are employing career managers who just tick up each job on their CVs rather than the traditional people who have worked their way up. At least the latter knew how the organisations should function and also had some loyalty and ethics.