Post Office inquiry – live: Alan Bates sacked in Horizon scandal ‘for becoming unmanageable’, document claims
Hero campaigner Alan Bates has accused the Post Office of spending 23 years trying to “discredit and silence” him while giving evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Mr Bates founded the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, and led a group of 555 subpostmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court over the scandal – which saw the company’s employees prosecuted over glitches in the IT system making it wrongly appear that money was missing from their branches’ accounts.
As the inquiry turns its focus to governance, redress and how the Post Office and others responded, Mr Bates – whose story recently became subject of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office – testified on Tuesday for the first time.
Decades-old documents shown to the inquiry showed how Mr Bates’ Post Office contract was terminated in 2003 after he refused to repay Horizon-related sums without being shown sufficient evidence that he was liable for them, having repeatedly raised concerns about Horizon’s integrity.
One internal Post Office document, titled “Horizon Integrity”, claimed Mr Bates had “been dismissed because he became unmanageable”.
Key Points
Alan Bates sacked after ‘becoming unmanageable’, internal Post Office document claims
Alan Bates says it was ‘pretty obvious’ Post Office ‘were after me’ when they fired him
Campaigner says Post Office spent 23 years lying ‘to silence me’ on Horizon scandal
Paula Vennells refuses to comment on whether she misled parliament
Inquiry ends for the day
16:12 , Holly Evans
The inquiry has ended for the day and will resume on Wednesday at 10am.
Bates claims Post Office was ‘definitely trying to outspend’ campaign group
16:11 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates said the Post Office was “definitely trying to outspend us” when asked what “aggressive litigation tactics” it used during High Court proceedings.
Mr Bates said: “They were definitely trying to outspend us – we had to raise commercial funding from it, they had a bottomless pocket as such being a government organisation.
“So anything they could do to spin it out, anything they could do to recuse the judge or whatever, they did.
“Anything to cost us money and try and get us to stop the case.”
Post Office is an ‘atrocious organisation’ that should be sold to Amazon, says Bates
16:08 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates has called the Post Office an “atrocious organisation” that is “beyond saving” and should be sold to Amazon.
When asked for his thoughts on the culture of the Post Office, the former subpostmaster told the inquiry: “It’s an atrocious organisation.
“They need disbanding. It needs removing. It needs building up again from the ground floor.
“The whole of the postal service nowadays – it’s a dead duck. It’s beyond saving.
“It needs to be sold to someone like Amazon. It needs a real big injection of money and I only think that can happen coming in from the outside.
“Otherwise it’s going to be a bugbear for the government for the years to come.”
Mediation scheme was part of a ‘cover-up’, says Bates
16:04 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates has said he believed a mediation scheme set up to address the Horizon IT scandal was part of a “cover-up” and a “fishing expedition” to discover what evidence subpostmasters had about Horizon.
When asked about why he thought the scheme failed, Mr Bates said in his witness statement: “I believe the Mediation Scheme failed as it was part of the cover up by POL (Post Office Limited), I expect POL discovered things that they did not like and did not want to come out.
“There definitely was an element of not wanting to accept fault.
“I believe POL had no intention whatsoever of getting to a mutually acceptable and fair decision, if anything it seemed as if POL had been using the Scheme as a fishing expedition to see what evidence SPMs (subpostmasters) actually had about Horizon.”
Government had ‘back channel communications’ with Post Office
15:50 , Holly Evans
The government was having “back channel communications” with the Post Office despite telling lead campaigner Alan Bates that it was operating an “arm’s length relationship” with the organisation, the Horizon IT inquiry has heard.
A July 2013 email, sent from shareholder executive Mike Whitehead from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to Post Office staff, showed how the government requested a meeting with the Post Office to discuss how to respond to communications from Mr Bates.
Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked: “Did you know or did you appreciate at the time that, notwithstanding what had been said by government ministers about operating an arm’s length relationship with the Post Office, there was nonetheless a back channel of communications between the government and the Post Office?”
Mr Bates said: “No, I can’t say I was aware of that, no.”
Post Office asked for constant extensions in investigations, says Bates
15:38 , Holly Evans
When discussing his frustrations with the remediation scheme set up to help postal workers affected by the scandal, he said that the Post Office asked for extension after extension.
While they were told investigations would take a four to six-week period, sub-postmasters were forced to wait six or seven months while claims were investigated.
“It just dragged on and on and on,” he said.
Bates wrote to express surprise Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells had not offered to meet
15:25 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates wrote to former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells in 2013 expressing his surprise that she had not offered to meet following what had been discovered by forensic accountants Second Sight.
In his email to Ms Vennells, Mr Bates said: “Bearing in mind what has been discovered so far, I for one am surprised that we haven’t yet met to discuss the implications.
“Whilst I appreciate that the majority of the issues began under previous regimes and you have expressed a genuine willingness to address the concerns that the JSFA has been raising, these issues are still continuing.
“I have little doubt that it is now feasible to show that many of the prosecutions that the Post Office have pressed home should never have taken place.”
Sir Ed Davey apologises ‘he didn’t see through the Post Office’s lies’
15:11 , Holly Evans
Responding to Alan Bates’ evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry and his criticism of Sir Ed Davey, who now leads the Liberal Democrats, a party spokesman said: “Alan Bates is a hero for all he has done to represent subpostmasters through this horrific miscarriage of justice.
“Ed was the first minister to meet with Mr Bates and took his concerns to the Post Office and the Federation of Subpostmasters – Ed, like Mr Bates and so many others, was lied to.
“No one knew the scale of these lies until the whistleblower from Fujitsu revealed the truth several years later.
“Ed has said that he’s sorry that he didn’t see through the Post Office’s lies, and that it took him five months to meet Mr Bates.
“The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to ensure postmasters get full and fair compensation urgently, and Post Office executives who lied for decades are held properly to account.”
Bates says government needs to be held ‘responsible’ for role in Horizon scandal
15:08 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates said the Government needs to be held “responsible” for their part in the Horizon scandal after “pumping huge amounts of money” into the Post Office.
He told the inquiry: “Government were pumping huge amounts of money into Post Office year after year so they need to be held responsible.
“They need to be addressed really about the way that they had been going on.
“It was very hard to engage them in it – not nowadays, they’re a bit more interested these days – but at that time, trying to get government to try and take it on board seriously, it was very hard.”
Post Office ‘jumped on’ initial finding of no ‘systemic flaws’ relating to scandal
14:54 , Andy Gregory
The Post Office “jumped on” one line in the Second Sight report suggesting there were no “systemic flaws” relating to the Horizon scandal, Alan Bates told the inquiry.
“I knew perfectly well that out of a 30-odd page report, the Post Office would jump on one particular line or one particular comment, and that’s what would be appearing in the media and press releases – and it was,” he told the inquiry.
“And they did. Basically they kept saying, ‘Second Sight investigators found there were no systemic flaws in Horizon. They just kept picking that one line in a 30-odd page report, which identified many other concerns right across the whole issue.”
Asked about the eventual official finding of systemic flaws, he added: “We’re going back now to controlling the narrative – and that was the first time Post Office lost control of the narrative, once we got into a High Court. So yes, that’s when the truth started to come out at that point.”
Post Office has consistently sought ‘to control the narrative’, says Alan Bates
14:30 , Andy Gregory
Asked how he first felt when it was suggested that forensic accountancy firm Second Sight should be brought in to conduct a review, Alan Bates told the inquiry: “Suspicious. We were highly suspicious of it, because were they being brought in to whitewash this on behalf of Post Office?
“Because Post Office brought them forward to ourselves to see how we thought they would get on. But as time went on with Second Sight we had more and more confidence of their independence. But initially we were highly wary of them.”
This was because they were being paid for by Post Office, said Mr Bates, adding: “That’s been a concern down the line with all the different schemes that Post Office has been funding them.”
He continued: “Throughout the whole of the period, with all of this scandal that’s been going on, it’s been about control of the narrative, and it’s something that Post Office was incredibly keen to do. They had the money, they had the power, they wanted to brief the MPs, they wanted to do X, Y and Z ... and it always has been the concern.”
Petition for Post Office compensation approaches 600,000 signatures
14:18 , Jamel Smith, PA
A petition demanding compensation for people affected by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal is nearing 600,000 signatures, as campaigner Alan Bates gives evidence to the public inquiry into the system’s failures.
The Change.org petition was created in 2020 by Christopher Head, who was among those wrongly convicted, to “ensure the people responsible face not only the court of public opinion but also a court of law”.
As of 2pm on Tuesday, more than 576,000 people had signed the petition. Mr Head witnessed a surge in support for his petition in January 2024, with hundreds of thousands of people signing up after the airing of ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The former sub-postmaster said he does not want to see workers “scapegoated” over the scandal. He added: “Once all the facts have been established, we can ensure the people responsible face not only the court of public opinion but also a court of law. If they are found guilty, they must face the consequences.”
Inquiry breaks for lunch
13:19 , Holly Evans
The inquiry is now taking a lunch break and will resume at 2pm.
Bates responds to ‘offensive’ letter from Ed Davey
13:18 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates has told the Horizon IT inquiry that he took offence to a letter from former postal affairs minister Sir Ed Davey after he claimed the government adopted an “arm’s length” relationship with the Post Office despite being its sole shareholder.
Questioned by counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC on why he took offence to Sir Ed’s letter in 2010, which declined an invitation to meet with Mr Bates, the former subpostmaster said: “It was because of the structure, wasn’t it.
“The government was the sole shareholder, they were the owners, as such, of all of this.
“How can you run or… take responsibility for an organisation without having some interest in… or trying to be in control?”
In his letter, Mr Bates asked for a meeting to show Mr Davey, who now leads the Liberal Democrats, the vast amount of evidence against Horizon, but the MP said the meeting would not serve “any useful purpose”.
Responding that his comments were “offensive”, Mr Bates said that he was ignoring the misery being inflicted on sub-postmasters and listed several issues with the Post Office, after which Mr Davey agreed to the meeting.
Bates has not returned to work to ‘expose the truth’ of Post Office scandal
13:00 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates said he has not returned to work since being dismissed as a subpostmaster due to his campaign for justice, adding: “I didn’t set out to spend 20 years doing this.”
The former subpostmaster told the inquiry: “The key issue has always been to expose the truth right from the outset because the other things, they followed on – once you know the truth about issues, the rest will hopefully follow on afterwards.
“I didn’t set out to spend 20 years doing this.
“I hadn’t expected to be doing this so much by myself but it got more and more complex and it was harder and harder to share out work as a bigger group to take things forward.
When asked why he had continued his campaign for justice, he responded: “Because the further down the road you went with it the more you realised you couldn’t let it go.”
‘They didn’t like me standing up to them,’ says Bates
12:52 , Holly Evans
Alan Bates said the Post Office terminated his contract as a subpostmaster because “they didn’t like me standing up to them”.
The Post Office IT Inquiry heard that Mr Bates received a letter terminating his employment in 2003 in which no reason for his dismissal was given.
Mr Bates, when asked what he understood to be the reason for the termination, said: “Basically, I think it was because a) they didn’t like me standing up to them in the first instance; b) they were finding it awkward; and c) I don’t think they could answer these questions and they had a feeling I was going to carry on in a similar vein going forward.”
Subpostmaster was ‘escorted out’ of federation meeting for talking about Horizon issues, says Bates
12:48 , Holly Evans
Mr Bates said he attended one meeting, where a subpostmaster told him: “I’ve just had my post office taken off me and I’d had problems with Horizon and all the rest. The Federation, the exact people who were there, escorted him out of the back of the place.”
Federations, such as the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSB), are meant to respresent and help subpostmasters.
He added that the federation nearly always took the side of the Post Office and that he had never heard of any sub-postmasters receiving assistance on IT issues.
Post Office ‘regrets’ documents were not disclosed to inquiry sooner
12:37 , Holly Evans
The Post Office has said it “regrets” that documents were not disclosed to the Horizon IT Inquiry “as early as all parties would have liked”.
A Post Office spokeswoman said: “We are fully committed to supporting the inquiry to establish the truth and we have disclosed almost half-a-million documents to date, reflecting both the unprecedented scale of the issues in the scandal and our commitment to transparency.
“This follows searches of over 176 million documents, 230 physical locations and third-party sites, and across multiple systems.
“During the past six weeks, since the inquiry announced its current hearings timetable, we have disclosed the vast majority of documents required for those witnesses but regret a very small proportion of documents were not disclosed as early as all parties would have liked.
“The inquiry is examining issues that spanned more than two decades, including a lengthy period when Post Office was part of Royal Mail Group.
“Disclosure is therefore highly complex and we continue to do all we can to deliver continuous improvements and incorporate past learnings into the disclosure process to avoid the risk of delays to the inquiry’s timetable.”
Bates calls Post Office reasoning for sacking is ‘nonsense’
12:29 , Holly Evans
A letter from Richard Barker, then general manager of the communications network at the Post Office, explained to Bates’ MP that his sacking was the “only sensible” option.
He wrote that nothing had been found to support his claims over the faulty Horizon claim and that he was “unsuitable” for the position of sub-postmaster, and had continued to “flaunt” instructions.
In his evidence, Bates countered this but stating he had previously received letters praising his performance and to say “well done” for all his hard work.
“It’s nonsense,” he said. “This was just them flexing their muscles and deciding they were right and I was wrong.”
Alan Bates ‘struggled with accounting’, internal Post Office document claims
12:07 , Andy Gregory
An internal Post Office document, titled “Horizon Integrity”, described Alan Bates as having “become unmanageable”.
The apparent review of possible cases of Horizon faults claimed the former subpostmaster “clearly struggled with the accounting and despite copious support did not follow instructions”.
Detailing several other possible known cases, it then states: “Details of the cases do bear looking at.”
Mr Bates denied that he struggled with accounting, laughed when asked if he received copious support, and on the matter of instructions, said: “Basically try and bankrupt myself? No I didn’t, not to that extent.”
Post Office told MP it had ‘lost confidence’ in Alan Bates, document shows
12:02 , Andy Gregory
While Alan Bates said he “never” received a reason for the Post Office terminating his contract, he has been shown a letter by the company to an MP in 2003 claiming that it had “lost confidence in his willingness to conduct the job in the manner expected”.
The claim came in correspondence – seen by the inquiry – to MP Betty Williams, who had written to the Post Office to relay her constituent’s concern about the temporary closure of the branch run by Mr Bates.
Asked if that had ever been explained to him, Mr Bates told the inquiry: “No.”
Alan Bates believes Post Office wanted ‘to make a lesson’ of his case
11:57 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has said he believed the Post Office were trying to “make a lesson” of his case when terminating his contract in 2003.
“I felt they were going to make a lesson of my case – because a number of other people knew what was going on at that time, and I think it was something the Post Office liked to try and give lessons of how they were in charge,” he told the inquiry.
Alan Bates says it was ‘pretty obvious’ Post Office ‘were after me'
11:54 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has said he was “never” given an explanation for his dismissal by the Post Office.
Asked by the inquiry’s lead counsel how it felt to receive a letter from the Post Office in August 2003 telling him they were terminating his contract that November, he said: “I was annoyed with them, to put it mildly, but I think it was partly expected in a way.
“Because it was pretty obvious they were after me, one way or another, and the build-up of correspondence over the period was certainly pointing in that direction.
“But I always found it quite interesting that I pulled them up on the point about trying to terminate me and my contract under Clause 12 of the contract ... but they didn’t do it that way. They decided to go just under this ‘any reason they wanted in three months’ notice without giving a reason’”.
The inquiry’s lead counsel clarified: “So it’s a ‘without fault, without reason’ termination, just on three month’s written notice”, adding: “You’d had the £1,100 written off, you’ve had the Post Office acknowledging it was because of a genuine dispute over whether Horizon was to blame for it, you’d been rolling over other surpluses since then with Post Office knowledge – and then this arrives.”
Mr Bates replied: “It was a bit strange in a way, because we were a very busy Post Office, in fact it was a time when a lot of Post Offices were losing trade but our sales figures were very high in the region, we developed a lot of new business in there. But it was their decision to do it [fire me] and so be it.”
He added: “I did offer at one point when ... we were heading in this direction ... if you’re unhappy with the way I’m providing your service then pay us back our initial investment and take the Post Office away, I would have been quite happy for them to do that, and I probably wouldn’t be here today on that basis.”
Alan Bates fired after refusing to pay for unexplained shortfalls, correspondence shows
11:45 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has been shown correspondence between himself and the Post Office in which he was suddenly ordered to pay for unexplained shortfalls – and refused.
Citing his contract, Mr Bates told the Post Office he was under no obligation to pay for sums which he could not be sure he in fact owed the company, the documents show.
Months later, he received a response informing him that his contract would be terminated.
Post Office did not reply to December 2000 letter about Horizon concerns, says Alan Bates
11:40 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has told the Post Office IT Inquiry he never got a response to a letter he sent to the Post Office in December 2000 in which he raised concerns about the Horizon IT system.
In another letter to the Post Office seen by the inquiry, dated January 7 2002, Mr Bates wrote: “When I signed my contract with Post Office Counters, I did not sign to accept the liabilities arising from the shortcomings of a less than adequate Horizon system.”
Bates shown internal Post Office document with range of options for dealing with Horizon shortfall complaints
11:22 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has been shown an internal Post Office document – not disclosed to him at the time – which shows a number of options available in responding to his request for a shortfall to be written off.
The document contains three options – either to grant the subpostmaster’s receipt in full, to make them pay for the sum, or two grant a partial receipt.
“Were you aware at that time that the Post Office seemingly used a standard form with ‘delete as appropriate’ boxes on it?” Mr Bates was asked by the inquiry’s lead counsel.
“No I didn’t, but now you mention it I do recall a conversation that the retail network manager at the time had with this department at my office, so I only heard one side of the conversation, and it was about arranging for this write-off voucher,” Mr Bates said.
“And I seem to recall, and it’s stuck in [my] memory, and he said, ‘oh, it’s another one of those Horizon losses’. It’s just one of those little things that sticks in the back of your mind that was said at the time.”
Alan Bates revisits decades-old letters appealing to Post Office for help with Horizon
11:14 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has been shown letters he sent to the Post Office about accounting shortfalls and faults with the Horizon system during his time as a subpostmaster, appealing to his employer for help and detailing the problems with the IT system.
The second letter, sent in January 2002, says he “has no doubt at all” that one erroneous sum of £1,041.86 was “due to errors in the Horizon system”.
Subpostmasters suffered ‘very one-sided’ relationship with Post Office, says Alan Bates
11:04 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates said the partnership between subpostmasters and the Post Office was “very one-sided”.
He told the inquiry: “I had been led to believe that subpostmasters were working in partnership with the Post Office, and if the Post Office wanted me to measure up to the standards they required, I expected them to do the same for me.
“However, over time, it soon became evident that the ‘partnership’ was very one-sided, and it really was a question of ‘you will do as you are told and if you don’t like it, you can’t complain and there is no redress on this, and you just get on and keep your mouth closed’ – that’s how it works.”
Alan Bates says Post Office has spent 23 years ‘trying to discredit and silence me'
11:02 , Andy Gregory
In his witness statement to the inquiry, Alan Bates said the Post Office had spent the entirety of the 23 years he has been campaigning “denying, lying, defending, and attempting to discredit and silence me”.
He said: “Prior to and since my termination from the branch, I have spent the last 23 years campaigning to expose the truth, and justice, not just for myself, but for the entire group of wrongly treated/wrongly convicted subpostmasters.
“I have dedicated this period of my life to this cause which, sadly, has been necessary since Post Office Limited has spent this entire period denying, lying, defending, and attempting to discredit and silence me and the group of SPMs that the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) represents.”
Alan Bates saw shortfall of £6,000 ‘weeks after’ Horizon went live
11:01 , Andy Gregory
The first substantial unexplained variance experienced by Alan Bates exceeded £6,000 and “was only a couple of weeks after” the Horizon system first went live, the former subpostmaster has said.
Post Office accused of ‘highly disruptive’ disclosure failings
10:52 , Andy Gregory
Prior to Alan Bates starting his testimony, the inquiry’s lead counsel detailed the Post Office’s “sub-optimal” and “highly disruptive” disclosure failings.
Jason Beer KC told the inquiry that since the conclusion of the previous phase in February, the Post Office had disclosed 73,720 documents which could relate to the next phases.
Mr Beer said: “We’re committed to doing all that we can to ensure that the hearings can go ahead as planned and, subject to your views, that’s what we intend to do - to continue with the hearings.
“The alternative – further delay, to allow the Post Office to get its disclosure house in order – is not one which is acceptable.”
Alan Bates credits ‘stubbornness’ with dedication to campaign
10:43 , Andy Gregory
Asked about his determination in campaigning on behalf of fellow subpostmasters, Alan Bates said: “I think it’s also stubbornness.
“But as you got to meet people and realised it wasn’t just yourself and saw the harm and injustice that had been descended upon them, it was something you felt you had to deal with, you couldn’t put down, and you had the support from the rest of the group there as well.”
Alan Bates was initially ‘quite positive’ about Horizon technology
10:39 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has said that he was initially “quite positive” about the introduction of the Horizon IT programme.
The former subpostmaster said: “When Horizon came in I was quite positive about it because I knew what technology and these sorts of systems could do.
“But I found it a bit frustrating once the system was installed and we were operating it, I found there were many shortcomings in the system.”
10:36 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates has now been sworn in.
Watch live: Alan Bates gives evidence at Horizon inquiry
10:15 , Andy Gregory
You can watch the proceedings live below:
Today’s hearing gets under way
10:13 , Andy Gregory
Proceedings have begun at Aldwych House, with the public inquiry’s counsel Jason Beer QC holding the floor currently.
‘We need to know the truth,’ says subpostmistress
10:12 , Andy Gregory
A subpostmistress said “we need to know the truth”, ahead of appearances by senior Post Office officials at the next stage of the Horizon IT Inquiry.
Jacqueline Franklin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she wanted to see, “honesty, truth and to let people know what’s happened instead of covering everything up and white-washing what’s been going on”.
“These people at the top have just hidden the truth from postmasters. It took a TV programme to bring this to the fore. It shouldn’t have happened, it should have been out there and the truth should be out there. We need to know the truth.”
Ms Franklin, who took over a Warwickshire post office from her mother, who died in 2019, added: “We spent evenings looking for money which had gone missing.
“We were always told that we had to make good the cash, so cash had to be made good out of your own pockets.”
Alan Bates says Post Office inquiry is 24 years in the making
10:11 , Andy Gregory
Alan Bates is due to give evidence imminently for the first time.
Last week, the campaigner told the Daily Telegraph he was “not intimidated” by the prospect of the public inquiry, described it as being “24 years in the making”.
“I have been doing this too long and there are few surprises, I am there to help the inquiry and try and assist them,” he told the paper.
“The allegations and claims I made on behalf of myself and others have been proved to be right and it’s just been an uphill battle trying to force them into the light against a corporate bully which is the Post Office.”
Listen: Post Office counsel discusses plan to obstruct MP investigation in secret recordings
09:49 , Andy Gregory
A Post Office counsel discusses plans to obstruct an MP investigation into the Horizon IT scandal in this secret recording, reports Lucy Leeson.
The recording, obtained by Channel 4 News, shows a conversation between Post Office company secretary Alwen Lyons and Post Office chief lawyer Susan Crichton and is taken on 22 May 2013.
It suggests they knew there was an issue with the company’s Fujitsu IT system two years before the last subpostmasters were jailed in 2015. Ms Crichton states: “It’s the need to somehow have a plan to close down this process. I mean, even to the extent of stopping MPs sending cases in now.”
Who else is set to appear before inquiry?
09:38 , George Lithgow, PA
Other prominent witnesses soon to give evidence include Lord Arbuthnot, member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board and former MP for North East Hampshire, who campaigned for years on behalf of subpostmasters.
Former chief executive Paula Vennells, who led the Post Office at the height of the scandal, will face the inquiry in late May.
Angela van den Bogerd, former Post Office head of partnerships, Adam Crozier, who was chief executive of Royal Mail from February 2003 to 2010, and Dame Moya Greene, who replaced him and left in 2018, will also all give evidence.
Conservative ministers who will be questioned over their role as the scandal developed include Greg Clark, business secretary from 2016-2019, Kelly Tolhurst, postal services minister from July 2018 to February 2020, Margot James, who held the role between July 2016 and January 2018, and Cabinet Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe, who was postal affairs minister in 2015.
Liberal Democrat politicians Sir Vince Cable, the former business secretary, party leader Sir Ed Davey, who was postal affairs minister from May 2010 to February 2012, and Jo Swinson, postal affairs minister from September 2012 to May 2015, will all appear as witnesses.
Labour shadow cabinet member Pat McFadden, who was postal affairs minister from June 2007 to June 2009, will also be questioned.
Former Post Office chief Paula Vennells refuses to comment on whether she misled parliament
09:35 , Andy Gregory
Paula Vennells has been seen in public for the first time after allegations that she may have been told about a “covert operations team” that could remotely access the Horizon system and adjust branches’ accounts two years before she appeared in parliament, reports Holly Patrick.
Channel 4 News obtained a 2013 recording in which the Post Office’s chief lawyer Susan Crichton confirmed twice that Ms Vennells was aware of the allegations, two years before prosecutions were halted against subpostmasters.
The former Post Office boss denied to parliament in correspondence that remote access was possible.
In footage published on Sunday, Ms Vennells did not reply to a question from a Channel 4 reporter on the allegations. The Post Office was approached for comment.
Alan Bates to give evidence to Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
09:29 , Andy Gregory
Prominent campaigner Alan Bates will give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, as the investigation enters a significant phase.
The inquiry is now entering phases five and six, which will look at governance, redress and how the Post Office and others responded.
You can read more details here:
Alan Bates to give evidence to Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
09:25 , Andy Gregory
Good morning, and thanks for joining us on our Post Office inquiry live blog, where we’ll be bringing you live updates on campaigner Alan Bates’s testimony.
