Tim Parker and the Horizon scandal
From The Times, 9 January 2024
Executives who walked away to a golden future
By Mario Ledwith and Tom Witherow
Sir Tim Parker [sic]
Chairman from October 2015 until 2022
As a private equity tycoon known for overseeing mass job cuts in his quest to turn companies around, Parker was dubbed in City circles as “The Prince of Darkness”.
A former Treasury economist who led the shoe company Clarks, the AA and Kwik-Fit, he joined the Post Office in 2015, praising it as “one of Britain’s most trusted brands”.
He supported its executive board as a group of Post Office managers were aggressively fought in the civil courts at huge expense to the taxpayer.
In 2021, he issued an apology over wrongful convictions that victims described as “feeble”.
Just days before the inquiry into the Horizon scandal began, Parker, 68, announced that he would be stepping down from the chairman role.
He previously left his chairmanship of the National Trust, a position he had held since 2014, amid a political row about the body’s direction.