Ex-Post Office chair told plan needed to ‘hobble’ up to election, says memo

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The former chair of the Post Office has released a memo that alleges he was told by a senior civil servant to stall requests for government support and develop a financial plan to “hobble” into the general election.

In the note from January 2023, released by Henry Staunton, he raised concerns over the Post Office’s finances, including the costs associated with the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.

He wrote that Sarah Munby, then permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, responded that there was no appetite to “rip off the band aid”.

Munby said “now was not the time for dealing with long term issues” and the Post Office needed a strategy to “hobble” up to the election without taking drastic financial action, according to the memo seen by the Financial Times.

The memo, which Staunton wrote after assuming his role as chair in December 2022, has fuelled an explosive spat between the senior business figure and business secretary Kemi Badenoch.

Staunton had claimed in an interview with The Sunday Times last weekend that he was asked by a senior civil servant in 2023 to “stall on spending on compensation and on the replacement of Horizon”.

Badenoch subsequently accused Staunton in parliament on Monday of making “wild, baseless allegations” that were a “blatant attempt to seek revenge after a dismissal”. She added that he had no evidence for his allegations.

In the memo, Staunton expressed concerns over the business’s finances. “I said I had been on over a dozen public company boards and not seen one with so many challenges,” he wrote.

He said a £160mn shortfall had been identified, including £90mn in extra costs associated with the Horizon inquiry, and noted the possibility of a “significant reduction in post offices” if more government support was not provided.

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