The former Lib Dem leader also referred to Post Office managers as “thugs in suits”.
In what has been called the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice, more than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from a computer system called Horizon between 1999 and 2015.
The Post Office was able to both investigate and prosecute these sub-postmasters itself because of the way it is set up, a structure heavily criticised by campaigners.
Some of the sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined.
In 2017, 555 of them took legal action against the Post Office. In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money went on legal fees.
The High Court judgement found that the Horizon IT software contained a large number of software defects and was not “remotely robust”, which caused shortfalls with sub-postmasters’ accounts, and that there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
When questioned about the High Court judgement, Mr Clark said he was “angry” and accused the Post Office of playing a “legal game” for “tactical” reasons when the Post Office said it would appeal the judgement.
He said he kept “nuclear options” on the table to resolve Horizon litigation, including firing the entire board.
