Former Post Office minister expresses 'embarrassment' over scandal

A FORMER Post Office minister has expressed her "embarrassment" and "utter shame" over the wrongful accusations against sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting.

Kelly Tolhurst, the former minister responsible for the Post Office from July 2018 to February 2020, on Wednesday (17) testified at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.

She is the first former minister to provide evidence in this phase of the public inquiry.

Tolhurst recounted how the Post Office initially assured her of the reliability of the Horizon computer system and its strong legal position against 555 sub-postmasters who had brought a case five years prior. However, in March 2019, Justice Fraser’s ruling in favour of the sub-postmasters was a "lightbulb moment" for her, reported the BBC.

From 1999 to 2013, hundreds of sub-postmasters were convicted based on flawed Horizon system evidence, marking one of Britain's largest miscarriages of justice.

In 2019, Justice Fraser condemned the IT system as significantly flawed, leading to the overturning of wrongful convictions.

In her testimony, Tolhurst described her immediate reaction as one of "embarrassment" and "utter shame" for the Post Office's reprehensible behaviour towards the sub-postmasters. She acknowledged that, in hindsight, she should have recognised the risks of the Horizon system earlier, admitting there were many things she wished she had done differently.

Tolhurst also spoke of the challenges of her ministerial role and the difficulty in obtaining accurate information from the Post Office. She expressed concerns about Tom Cooper, the government's representative on the Post Office board, suggesting he had "gone native" and lost his independent oversight.

Despite thinking it was "madness" for the Post Office to attempt to remove the judge following the first trial judgment, Tolhurst felt powerless to stop it, citing her reliance on legal advice and her position as a junior minister.

She believed the structure of the Post Office, as a government-owned limited company, restricted her authority to intervene directly.

Tolhurst denied using this as an excuse to avoid involvement, insisting she fundamentally believed she was unable to act. She felt her only significant power was the "nuclear option" of firing the Post Office chairman, though barrister Angela Patrick argued she still had leverage even without resorting to such drastic measures.

The former minister expressed sadness that sub-postmasters were dissatisfied with their settlement, which saw most compensation consumed by legal costs, though she clarified she was not involved in negotiating the settlement.

In her witness statement, Tolhurst revealed that when she learned in November 2018 that Post Office CEO Paula Vennells was stepping down, her private secretary speculated via WhatsApp that Vennells might be leaving in anticipation of the litigation’s negative outcome.

After serving at the Department of Transport, Tolhurst lost her Rochester and Strood seat in the 2024 general election.