Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Questions to be answered over Tory donor’s involvement in Horizon scandal
Evidence from the Post Office inquiry suggests Simon Blagden – formerly of Fujitsu and now in a government quango role – had greater involvement than previously realised in the notorious IT scandal that blamed subpostmasters for crimes they did not commit, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Protestors outside the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at the International Dispute Resolution Centre, London, ahead of the one-day hearing on issues relating to compensation. Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses (SPMs) were falsely prosecuted based on information from the Horizon computer system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu, December 8, 2022

EVIDENCE at the Post Office inquiry uncovered by Private Eye magazine links a top Tory donor to the Horizon scandal.

The inquiry is investigating how the Post Office persecuted subpostmasters for thefts they did not commit. The Post Office bought a computer system called Horizon that was used in the branches from IT giant Fujitsu. 

The Horizon system records on sales were inaccurate, but instead of blaming the system, the Post Office blamed the subpostmasters, prosecuting them — resulting in jail sentences — in what is one of Britain’s biggest injustice scandals.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds during a visit to Horiba Mira in Nuneaton, to mark the launch of the Government's Industrial Strategy, June 23, 2025
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

LOOKING THE OTHER WAY: Peter Mandelson seems to have been rewarded with a post in Washington for his continued friendship with Jeffrey Epstein while Jes Staley, the former Barclays banker, has been banned from holding senior positions in finance
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Construction workers during the installation of the first high speed railway platforms for the HS2 project at Old Oak Common station, west London, May 29, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking at the launch of the Government's 10-year health plan during a visit to the Sir Ludwig Guttman Health & Wellbeing Centre in east London, July 3, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES