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How long before the act of persecuting the innocent sub-postmaster?
It’s not easy for a Cabinet Minister to make a good impression or even get too much. Staying out of trouble is a high bar today. Maybe a lot of worthwhile work is done behind the scenes without much, if any, publicity. However, ambitious politicians should pursue whatever opportunities are available. So let’s take a look at one of the contenders for Tory party leadership and PM almost a year ago: Kemi Badenoch.
His main claim to fame is his willingness to speak clearly on difficult topics such as Critical Race Theory, Equality Act and more. All very well, at least for those who care about the subject. But a leader, let alone a PM, should not be a one-trick pony. So what has he done – and not done – as Minister for Business and Trade? It is not one of the traditional large State Offices. But post-Brexit, business and trade. How can we get a life? Free trade deals are undoubtedly one of the good benefits of Brexit. So one cheers for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the UK has joined, although the benefits for the UK are smaller than its name suggests. And that’s it. Until now. There is also the EU (Retained Laws) Bill where Badenoch bowed to reality and reduced the number of laws to be repealed to (one hopes) manage 800 instead of 4,000 originally envisaged.
There was one problem sitting on her desk that Badenoch had avoided. It is the behavior of the Post Office over the horizon and the persecution of its innocent sub-postmasters. There is a public question so there is a good reason why they can stay away until informed. But this is not good enough. On Monday, the investigative judge asked the government to take reparatory action. The current investigation must resolve matters not only related to past events but also the willingness and ability of the Post Office to comply with the investigation. There is a very real problem whether it is disturbing to take a serious inquiry or just waving two fingers at it, whether it is refusing to comply with the obligation of correct disclosure, instead of awarding a bonus Board for compliance that has not happened, lying. and publishing misleading accounts. Whether through willfulness or incompetence or a mixture of the two, the attitude to – and behavior in – the statutory inquiry is one of arrogance and contempt.
All Post Offices are owned by the government. The Chairman and Council are appointed by the Business Secretary. These failures are not only related to the abuse of the criminal justice system but also to the behavior of commercial businesses: dishonest leadership, inadequate governance, bad culture, dysfunctional contractual arrangements with service providers, no shareholders involved and so on. All must deal with not only miscarriages of justice. They will not be within the limited Terms of Reference of the judicial inquiry. Against this background, the Minister’s silence seems less like a desire not to interfere with the judicial process and more like indifference to one of the worst scandals in British business, as well as one of the worst miscarriages of justice. At worst, it shows non-compliance and obstacles to having the approval of the Business Secretary (maybe explicit).
Could he have done it differently? They can try to get approval for a comprehensive and timely compensation scheme, separate from the question of what went wrong and why, as requested by the Chairman of the Inquiry. He can instruct the Board that no bonus should be paid until the inquiry is completed. They can choose people with integrity and competence. They can insist that the Post Office take its legal obligations seriously. They can insist that they appoint people to important positions who are determined to help rather than hinder. He can do all this not only because it is the right thing to do but also knowing that it will do his political profile no end good. If he succeeds in getting money from the Treasury to pay the reparations now (not when everyone is dead), it will show him to be an effective political operator. This will give you a useful feat against the absent leadership contenders (Braverman, Mordaunt, Barclay). It will show him as a man on the side of the people (small business – once a natural supporter of the party) against those who regard the public purse as a purse to be plundered for personal gain. It would distance him from his previous leadership and make him look like a different Tory, one who understands that the state and institutions must act with integrity and that the party must – and must be seen – to be on that side. trying to do the right thing. Do not sidestep the criminals, who are incompetent, greedy and selfish.
Nothing is easy. It may not work. But what’s the point of a politician wanting to be a leader who doesn’t have the courage or desire to strive to do better? The Post Office scandal shows the British state at its worst – not on our side but only interested in claiming, delay and indifference, only capable of incompetence, greed and malice, unconcerned about the human consequences of actions. That view of the country is one that now – for many voters – reflects the Tory party – and many businesses (water companies, anyone?). Badenoch has a chance – a small one but a chance – to begin to change, an absolute necessity if his party is to survive and thrive. They can find time to write letters to Ofsted about matters that have been dealt with by the right authorities but ignore potentially criminal behavior and misuse of taxpayers’ money by entities politically accountable to the electorate.
Meanwhile, the investigation was postponed. again. Don’t be surprised to find Post Office disclosure failures used by Post Office and Fujitsu witnesses to justify their own failures. There will be a tsunami of answers saying that “If I had known this, I would have done something different“and the lack of recognition that the job of a senior manager is to ask questions. Don’t be surprised if no one is held accountable and no one is prosecuted. Don’t be surprised if some future Business Secretary reads boiler plate apologies for nothing”learn the lesson” part shoehorned in. As for Badenoch, he could join the list of Tory hopefuls with more egos than achievements to his name.
CycleFree
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