Western Daily Press (Saturday)
‘I wouldn’t join all-male club’
LABOUR’S shadow women and equalities secretary has said she would not join a London all-male private members’ club which is considering admitting its first female members.
Anneliese Dodds argued the way to achieve equality was to have more women in positions of power and for men to help break down barriers.
The Garrick Club has come under fire after The Guardian published its membership list, which it said included The King, deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove. Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and several judges have since resigned from the club, which has repeatedly blocked the admission of women since the 1960s.
Ms Dodds, asked if she would want to join, told LBC Radio on Friday: “Personally, no. That’s not really how I would want to spend my time.”
ADRAFT report has revealed the Post Office was aware of evidence that losses could be due to errors in the Horizon IT system but still pressed ahead with the Bates v Post Office Ltd case.
Campaigner Alan Bates led a group of 555 sub-postmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court over the scandal, which was settled in December 2019.
Details of the document, first reported by the BBC, show “Post Office management” knew sub-postmasters may not be to blame for data discrepancies but continued to fight them in court regardless.
The draft report, called Bramble, was commissioned by the Post Office in March 2016 and carried out by consultancy firm Deloitte.
In the report, the firm said it had discussed its findings with “Post Office management”.
Errors in the Horizon IT system or remote tampering could have been responsible for losses discovered at branches, the report said.
Mr Bates’ story recently became the subject of an ITV drama titled Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring actor Toby Jones.
At a secretly recorded Post Office meeting in July 2013, attended remotely by then chief executive Paula Vennells, management heard sub-postmasters’ Horizon computers could be accessed remotely.
In 2015, Ms Vennells told MPs she was not aware of any miscarriage of justice.
The former chief executive ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system, and wrongfully prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters.
During the recording, obtained and aired by ITV News, investigators tasked by the Post Office with looking into possible issues with the system told her explicitly about allegations that accounts could be accessed remotely.
The Post Office continued to deny remote access was possible until 2019.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “The statutory public inquiry, chaired by a judge with the power to question witnesses under oath, is the best forum to examine the issues raised by this evidence. We continue to remain fully focused on supporting the inquiry to get to the truth of what happened and accountability for that.”
The latest development comes after a senior MP called for police to investigate a series of covert recordings from 2013, which include Post Office executives discussing the Horizon IT scandal.
Liam Byrne, chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, said the recordings were “the first evidence that people knew there was a problem”.
The recordings, uncovered on Wednesday by Channel 4 News, contained conversations between Post Office executives and two forensic accountants on May 22, 2013.
These conversations – which included Post Office company secretary Alwen Lyons and Post Office chief lawyer Susan Crichton – suggest they knew there was an issue with the company’s Fujitsu IT system two years before the last sub-postmasters were jailed, in 2015.
An inquiry into the Post Office and the Horizon IT scandal will continue next month.