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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