Former government minister Vince Cable accused the Post Office of lying to the government in order to conceal the mistreatment of subpostmasters. During the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, Cable described the Post Office as “authoritarian” in their dealings with subpostmasters, while fellow former Conservative minister Greg Clark also criticized the Post Office culture.
Cable, who served as secretary of state in the Business, Innovation and Skills department from 2010 to 2015, stated in his witness statement that the Post Office misled government officials at the Shareholder Executive about the operational failures within the organization. He noted that while ministers typically only become involved in strategic decisions, there were instances where operational issues warranted government intervention.
Clark, who was secretary of state for Businesses, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2016 to 2019, also criticized the Post Office’s treatment of subpostmasters, noting his own experience supporting a constituent who had been prosecuted for account shortfalls. He described the Post Office management as “insensitive to the point of abject rudeness” towards subpostmasters.
During the inquiry, it was revealed that Clark and his junior minister were against the Post Office’s attempt to remove High Court Judge Peter Fraser from the group litigation with subpostmasters. The Post Office’s application to recuse the judge was seen as a delaying tactic, and was ultimately rejected by Fraser and the Court of Appeal.
The Post Office scandal, initially exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.