Justice: lost in the Post

Tim Parker, a private equity veteran known as the Prince of Darkness for his prolific job-cutting, who became chairman of the Post Office in October 2015. There is no evidence of his questioning the approach to the Horizon scandal.

Private Eye has awarded Tim Parker, Chairman not only of the National Trust, but also the Post Office, a place in its ‘Hall of Shame’ over his failure to hold Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive from 2012 until 2019, to account for obstructing proper investigation into the IT failure which led many postmasters and postmistresses to be accused of theft, with devastating consequences for many.

The Eye reports:

‘The man who should have been holding Vennells to account was Tim Parker, a private equity veteran known as the Prince of Darkness for his prolific job-cutting, who became chairman of the Post Office in October 2015. There is no evidence of his questioning the approach to the Horizon scandal.

With a bulging portfolio of chairmanships – now featuring the HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the National Trust, Samsonite luggage company plus advisory roles at CVC and Monarch Capital private equity firms – in early 2018 Parker cut his commitment to the Post Office by 75 percent (or around a day a week).

Going AWOL in a crisis doesn’t chime with his self-proclaimed leadership style. In an interview at the University of the West of England in 2018, he said he acted as 'guarantor of good behaviour, transparent management...' With the guarantee evidently worthless, Parker (who also called himself a 'pro chair') may soon be spending even less time at Post Office HQ. He declined an invitation to talk to the Eye for this report.’

Read Private Eye’s special report ‘Justice lost in the post: How the Post Office wrecked the lives of its own workers’ here.