Minister’s ex-Fujitsu spouse quits Whitehall

Keegan’s husband, a former UK head of the firm, resigns from Cabinet Office

THE husband of Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has quit his Whitehall job after the Post Office scandal engulfed his former employer Fujitsu.

Michael Keegan stepped down from a role at the Cabinet Office after Labour said he should be investigated over what part he played in the Horizon fiasco.

He was formerly the UK head of Fujitsu, the Japanese firm which made the faulty accounting software behind the wrongful prosecution of subpostmasters.

After leaving the company in 2018 he joined the Cabinet Office in a role overseeing the state’s relationship with weapons manufacturer BAE systems.

He was paid £500 a day for the part-time position as a Crown Representative – outside experts brought in to help foster links with key businesses.

His resignation was announced in an update to the government website yesterday. He was replaced by Matt Wiles, a former Air Vice-Marshal in the RAF.

Mr Keegan’s link to the Horizon scandal had become the focus of attack for opposition parties, making his Whitehall role politically awkward for his wife.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats had raised concerns over his position and suggested that he should be grilled by the Post Office inquiry.

Asked about his role earlier this month Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said it was “right the public inquiry considers all of these questions”.

Mr Keegan was the UK chief executive of Fujitsu between March 2014 and June 2015, while prosecutions based on Horizon data were being brought.

After that he went on to become the Japanese giant’s head of technology, covering Europe and the Middle East, before his departure in July 2018. He stepped down just under 18 months before a High Court ruling in December 2019 that there were “bugs, errors and defects” in the Horizon software.

Data from the faulty system, which made it look as though money had gone missing from branches, led to the convictions of more than 900 subpostmasters between 1999 and 2015. The victims had their reputations ruined and lost their livelihoods as a result, with many left bankrupt and some even being wrongly sent to prison.

Mr Keegan has denied any wrongdoing and has said that the only decision he made on Horizon was to cancel a tender for a new version of the software. He has also insisted he only ever had one conversation with Paula Vennells, the shamed former Post Office boss, and that the pair did not discuss the issue.

It is understood his decision to quit the Cabinet Office was voluntary and not linked to forthcoming talks between ministers and Fujitsu over compensation for subpostmasters.

The Cabinet Office declined to comment on individual staffing matters.