Ministers are lining up the outgoing chairman of WH Smith to chair the state-owned Post Office because it navigates the monetary fallout of Britain’s largest miscarriage of justice.
Sky News has learnt that Henry Staunton, a former ITV finance chief, has been recognized because the main candidate to succeed Tim Parker later this yr.
If it proceeds, Mr Staunton’s appointment could possibly be introduced inside weeks, though it might not happen till after the election of the brand new Conservative Party chief.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the enterprise secretary who has duty for oversight of the Post Office, is predicted to maneuver to the Treasury if Liz Truss turns into prime minister subsequent month.
It was unclear on Monday whether or not the Post Office chair can be signed off by Mr Kwarteng or a successor, or whether or not different candidates remained in rivalry for the position.
Mr Parker has chaired the Post Office since 2015, a interval of tumult which has included the launch of the continued public inquiry into the IT scandal which resulted in lots of of sub-postmasters being wrongly prosecuted.
Much of Mr Parker’s tenure has been beset by controversy, with the eventual compensation invoice for the IT cover-up anticipated to succeed in north of £1bn.
The public inquiry has heard harrowing tales of the impression of what has been described as Britain’s largest miscarriage of justice on the victims and their households.
Read extra:
What is the Post Office scandal, why have been postmasters prosecuted, and what’s Horizon?
Post Office ‘massively contributed’ to subpostmaster demise, says widow
Mr Staunton’s pedigree as chairman of one of many UK’s largest retail networks makes him a logical alternative for the Post Office position.
He can also be chairman of Capital & Counties, the proprietor of Covent Garden, however will step down from that position as soon as its merger with Shaftesbury is accomplished.
His different earlier roles embrace the chairmanship of Phoenix Group, the life insurer, and a stint as finance director of Granada.
Mr Staunton is because of go away WH Smith on the finish of November.
As chair of the Post Office, he would take the helm of an organisation grappling with each the Horizon IT scandal and the novel shifts going down within the supply of the retail and banking providers its community supplies.
The government-owned firm’s former chiefs have come underneath intense strain over their dealing with of the affair, with Paula Vennells, the previous chief govt, going through calls for handy again her CBE.
Her substitute, Nick Read, has been within the job for simply over three years.
The organisation, which is managed by the federal government’s holding firm, UKGI, is Britain’s largest retail community.
A brand new chair of the Post Office would add it to a protracted checklist of state-owned business organisations and financial regulators to have appointed new management in latest months.
At Channel 4, which stays more likely to be privatised, Sir Ian Cheshire has joined as chairman, whereas its regulator, Ofcom, has a brand new chair in Lord Grade.
The Competition and Markets Authority, Ofwat, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Court of the Bank of England even have new chairs.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy stated an announcement about Mr Parker’s successor can be made in the end.
Source: information.sky.com”