Civil servants accuse former ministers of ‘cowardly’ blame game over Post Office scandal
Civil servants have hit back at “cowardly” former ministers who have criticised them for their alleged failure to act on the Post Office Horizon scandal.
A blame-game is under way following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which depicted how hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly held responsible for accounting errors created by the faulty Horizon IT software.
Sir Ed Davey and Lord Peter Mandelson, who are both facing questions for their roles as postal affairs minister and business secretary during the scandal, have laid some of the blame at the door of civil servants – with the latter arguing that officials should have been “more focused and cognisant of what was going on” and that they “failed” to protect ministers.
And in an interview with Sky News, Sir Ed, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of “lying to me” over the scandal.
Politics latest: Post Office investigators accused of behaving like ‘mafia gangsters’
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, told Sky News that Lord Mandelson’s comments were “just another cowardly example of politicians scrambling to blame others for their own mistakes”.
“Politicians are quick to take credit when things go well. They should be humble and honest enough to take responsibility for their mistakes, and swiftly deliver justice for the wronged sub-postmasters and sub-mistresses.”
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union for civil servants, branded Sir Ed’s comments “outrageous” and said they were an “act of desperation from a former minister trying to save his own skin”.
“Ed Davey goes beyond what is reasonable to expect from a former minister,” he told Sky News. “If he’s going to repeat this he needs to back up his accusations.”
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‘The Post Office was lying to me’
He added: “Civil servants should rightly be held to account for what they did and didn’t do, but they need an opportunity to defend themselves.”
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 people were prosecuted for a variety of offences including theft, fraud and false accounting – causing many to lose their jobs, livelihoods and reputations.
On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak announced that a new law would be introduced to exonerate and compensate those caught up in the Horizon scandal and that those who were part of the group litigation order against the Post Office would also be eligible for an upfront payment of £75,000.
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Sub-postmasters were ‘guinea pigs’
Sir Ed – who was postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012 during the coalition government – has attracted particular criticism after it emerged he refused to meet sub-postmaster Alan Bates, whom the ITV drama is named after, on a number of occasions – saying in a short three-paragraph letter that a meeting “wouldn’t serve any purpose”.
However, Sir Ed did later meet with Mr Bates and was the first minister on public record to do so. It is understood he then asked his officials to follow up on the concerns raised by the sub-postmaster at their meeting.
Speaking to Sky News this week, Sir Ed said: “I wish I’d known then what we all know now. The Post Office was lying on an industrial scale to me and other ministers.
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Wrongly convicted postmaster describes ordeal
“When I met Alan Bates and listened to his concerns, I put those concerns to officials in my department, to the Post Office and to the National Federation of Postmasters and it’s clear they all were lying to me.”
Sir Ed was joined in his criticism of the civil service by Lord Mandelson, who was in charge of the oversight the Post Office from 2008 until his departure in 2010.
In his Times Radio podcast aired earlier this week, Lord Mandelson said: “I’m not trying to point the finger at particular civil servants obviously,” he added, “but they should have been much more focused and cognisant of what was going on.
“And their job is to, in a sense, both to protect ministers and serve the wider public interest, and in this instance that failed.”
Read more:
Post Office scandal: Investigators ‘offered bonuses’ to prosecute sub-postmasters
Sub-postmasters used as ‘guinea pigs’ to grind out issues in Horizon, says expert
Separately, it has emerged that Lord Mandelson was made personally aware of the Horizon issue, after an email released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) showed they were highlighted to him in 2009 by Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot.
However, rather than respond himself, the FOI instead showed a response from his junior business minister, and now close ally of Sir Keir Starmer, Pat McFadden, who said there was “nothing to indicate that there are any problems with the Horizon system”.
A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats said: “Ed has been clear that Post Office managers lied to the victims, to judges and to ministers, those lies circulated across the entire system.
“It is also the case that like all former ministers and post office managers, civil servants – particularly those sitting on the post office board, must face the inquiry and answer questions.
“The priority now needs to be getting justice and compensation for the victims.”
The Labour Party has been approached for comment.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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