‘Rotten’ Post Office needs total brand overhaul after IT scandal, says campaigning peer

THE Post Office brand needs to be ditched because it has become so “tarnished” by the Horizon scandal, a peer who campaigned for wrongly convicted sub-postmasters has said.

Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom said that “a completely different brand” should be considered for the Post Office as it would allow for a change in culture that he described as “rotten”.

He spoke out as Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, forced out the organisation’s chairman Henry Staunton on Saturday because of frustration over the Post Office’s handling of the fallout of the scandal.

Lord Arbuthnot, who was played by Alex Jennings in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, said Mr Staunton stepping aside gave an opportunity to “refocus” the organisation “possibly with a completely different brand”.

The Tory peer, who campaigned for the wronged sub-postmasters while he was MP for North East Hampshire, said: “I think the brand may have been so tarnished now we’ll have to get rid of it”. He cited the behaviour of the Post Office during the ongoing inquiry, executives paying themselves bonuses for work related to the inquiry and the “slowness” of compensation payments.

He told Times Radio: “I think the main problem ... isn’t really the name, although that’s now been completely trashed ... there’s something rotten throughout the Post Office culture that needs to be changed ... mostly because of the governance from the top.”

He suggested the Post Office focus “on the idea of having a set of community hubs, using the wonderful relationship that sub-postmasters have with their communities.” He added: “I think there are huge opportunities here.”

Mr Staunton became chairman of the Post Office in December 2022 but was informed on Saturday by Ms Badenoch that he was to be replaced. She told the BBC that “it just wasn’t working”.

Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary, called on the Government to provide more detail as to why it asked Mr Staunton to resign. He told the BBC’S Laura Kuenssberg: “The Government have to tell us why they made this decision seemingly yesterday.”