Only Following Orders...

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I can't but mention the extraordinary testimony given today by George Thomson - Former General Secretary of the National Federation of Postmasters - to the Post Office Scandal enquiry today. He was described by Sam Steen KC, appearing for aggrieved sub-postmasters/mistresses, as aggressive and belligerent, which kind of neatly, if a tad politely, summed up Mr. Thomson's 'performance', for that is exactly what it was: performance. Loquacious(!) in the extreme, Mr T defended the Post Office position in general (whilst curiously, apparently rubbishing the organisation itself at every turn) and the Horizon system in particular, to the hilt.

Even when challenged with the evidence that both Post Office and the software's provider Fujitsu, and indeed the very association he formerly headed, all had admitted there were concrete issues with the system in question - Horizon - that had led to the one of the worst miscarriages of justice in UK legal history, he doubled down, time and again. His adherence to the (tacit?) company line and his defence of the conduct of the Federation at the time, even though he is no longer a part of that association; speaks volumes in justifying my earlier assertion [blog posts passim], that at the heart of all of this shit lies The Official Secrets Act. He is obviously a man running scared and in denial, with the Sword of Damocles hanging above him poised to put him away for the rest of his life or have him terminated with extreme prejudice [sorry, that last bit was a little hyperbolic]: why else would he be so defensive when it would be simpler and far less hard on everyone's ears just to say that he had been wrong at the time and apologise to all concerned?

My takeaway from today is that Orwell had it spot-on in "1984": the purpose of the Federation and people like Thomson was to - as was hinted at in the enquiry's questions today - offer a fictive narrative of support for their members, whilst enforcing the company's diktats to the letter, in the service of the company only, in a perverse Doublethink; in order to preserve Post Office's image at all costs in the eyes of the public. That much he gave away several times in his many tirades: catch it on catch up: it ain't pretty or easy listening - in fact it's largely just annoying - but it's instructive. Don't just take the soundbites at face value, watch the realtime deal and make your own mind up...

Comments

  1. Anonymous22 June 2024 at 17:17

    Go carefully one investigator has been subject to "with extreme prejudice"!!

    ReplyDelete

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