The former Postal Service Commissioner said he was instructed by senior civil servants to postpone compensation payments to post office operators so that the government could “drag its feet” ahead of the general election.
Henry Stanton, who was sacked by Business Minister Kemi Badenoch last month amid outrage over the Horizon scandal, said the request was made shortly after taking up the role in December 2022.
He also claimed that Post Office chief executive Nick Read had tried to dissuade the government from moving ahead with blanket immunity for operators in January.
In an interview with Sunday TimesMr Stanton, 75, said the request to postpone compensation payments appeared to be an attempt to reduce the government’s fiscal responsibility ahead of this year’s general election.
“Early on, I was told by someone very senior to me that we were going to drag our feet into the election in quotation marks because we were stuck with spending on reparations and Mr. Horizon’s replacement — I wrote about that in a file memo. — limped into the election,” Stanton said.
“It wasn’t an anti-postmaster general thing, it was just a financial thing. I didn’t ask, because I said, ‘I’m not involved in it. I’m not dragging my feet in the election. I’m not here to participate in this. That’s not the right thing for a postmaster to do.” If you look at the word “limp,” you get a snapshot of where they were. ”
The government denied Mr. Stanton’s claims. The report said Mr Stanton had set “specific goals” for reaching a settlement, adding: “The government will accelerate compensation to victims and represent victims’ claims to postmaster generals. “We have consistently encouraged them to do so,” he added. It would be wrong to suggest that any action or conversation occurred to the contrary. ”
False information from the Horizon computer system led to more than 900 postal workers being charged with stealing money, in what is said to be the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history.
Around £140 million in compensation has been paid out so far, but many victims have experienced delays and say the system is too bureaucratic.
Mr Stanton, the former chairman of WH Smith, claimed that Mr Read wrote to Attorney General Alex Chalk last month in a bid to persuade the government to oppose mass exonerations.
Mr Stanton told the Sunday Times that the letter included a legal opinion from the Post Office’s lawyers, Peters & Peters, suggesting that many of the convictions could be defended on appeal. Told.
He added: “Basically, they were trying to undermine the claim of innocence, because “the reason most people don’t come forward is because they’re guilty as charged.” I was told to think carefully about this.
Mr. Stanton told Reed that the opinions expressed in the letter were not supported by himself or “at least half” of the postal service’s executives, adding, “If this came to light, we would be crucified, and rightly so. “I’m talking about that,” he said.
The Post Office has been contacted for comment. Post Office officials denied to the Sunday Times that the letter was aimed at influencing the government.
Ministers pushed for emergency legislation to quash all Postal Service convictions related to Horizon.
Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said last month that postal operators were the victims of a “brutal and arbitrary exercise of power”. He added that £1 billion had been budgeted for compensation payments.
Shadow Enterprise Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Labor would seek answers from ministers when the House of Commons reconvenes this week.
He said in X: “These are very serious allegations about the government’s management of the Post Office and its treatment of the Horizon victims. We will seek answers when Parliament reconvenes this week.”
A Post Office spokesperson said: ‘The Post Office is very aware of the terrible impact of this terrible scandal and miscarriage of justice. We are focused on countering both and supporting the Government’s plans for faster justice and redress for victims. No one within the Post Office is beyond the reach of our investigations.”
