Tony Blair was warned of potential flaws in Horizon IT systems, documents reveal

According to documents, Sir Tony Blair was warned that the Horizon IT system at the center of the Post Office scandal could be flawed before it was rolled out.

But he said he gave the go-ahead after being reassured by others.

Among them was Peter Mandelson, then Minister for Trade and Industry.

He warned that termination would cause “political fallout” from the post office closure and damage relations with Fujitsu, which he said was a major UK investor.

Both the letter and the submission to Sir Tony were previously published at a hearing into the inquiry, which began in 2021, but have now been published in full.

At this stage there was no indication that the Horizon software would lead to false accusations of theft, but there were concerns about its reliability and ballooning costs.

Horizon was developed in 1998 by a company called ICL, owned by Fujitsu, as a way to pay welfare benefits at post office counters using swipe cards.

Eventually, this element of the project was discontinued, and the system was instead deployed in 1999 for tasks such as accounting and inventory.

More than 900 workers have been charged after a flawed software falsely made it look like money was missing.

The Horizon project, begun under John Major's Conservative government, was by 1998 more than two years behind schedule.

Sir Tony was consulted to decide whether the project should continue.

A submission from Downing Street special adviser Geoff Mulgan to the then prime minister on December 9, 1998, said the system was “increasingly flawed”.

Mr Murugan warned that “in the long term” it would “prove unsatisfactory” and “very expensive, inflexible, inadequate and probably unreliable”. said.

Mr Blair wrote a handwritten note on the document asking for a “clear opinion” on its authenticity.

On 14 December 1998, the Prime Minister's private secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, wrote to Mr Mulgan stating that the Prime Minister's “clear desire to avoid canceling the project''.

Testimony from other former Labor ministers, including Alistair Darling and Stephen Byers, previously revealed how the government had come up with a number of options to save the ailing scheme. was.

In his witness statement to the 2022 Inquiry, Sir Tony cited a letter from Lord Mandelson, written on 10 December 1998, as an example of the reassurance he received.

Lord Mandelson said in the letter: “The underlying development work has been thoroughly assessed by independent experts and we have determined that the design is viable, robust and capable of supporting future technology developments.”

None of the former ministers said in their evidence to the inquiry that they were aware of the specific issues that led to the subpostmaster being wrongly accused of theft.

Lord Mandelson's letter also states that if the government terminates the contract, “our relationship with Fujitsu, which has been a major inward investor in the UK for the past decade, will be at risk, as will the credibility of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).” “This will cause serious damage,” he warned. How to fund major projects.

In September 1998, Fujitsu announced it would close its semiconductor factory in the Sedgefield constituency of Sir Tony, County Durham, resulting in the loss of 600 jobs.

In his witness statement, Sir Tony said he was “understandably concerned” about the impact of the closure and said he had referred to it in a letter to the Fujitsu chairman. However, he said he had no recollection of this being relevant to the matters being considered in the inquiry.

Lord Mandelson's letter, sent to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Stephen Byers and copied to the Prime Minister, also reflected concerns that the system was essential to generating the customer traffic needed to keep the Post Office open. was.

He wrote that Horizon's cancellation would have “damage to the credibility of subpostmasters and the knock-on effects of network closures” and “no matter how carefully we try to manage it, it will cause political fallout.”

Lord Mandelson's office has been contacted for comment.

A spokesman for Sir Tony said: “As the document shows and makes perfectly clear, Mr Blair took this issue very seriously. His response to the Murugan letter and other communications were very important to the implementation of the document. “It raised questions of feasibility and credibility.” Since this was his main concern, he decided to end the project. After that, he had such a sense of security.

“It has now become clear that the Horizon product was seriously flawed, with tragic and completely unacceptable consequences. He deeply sympathizes with all those affected.”