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By Adele Robinson, business correspondent
It has been a repeated denial from Paula Vennells that she prioritised protecting the reputation of the Post Office.
It appears to fly in the face of everything we’ve ever learned about how the organisation conducted itself during the scandal.
The irony of hearing her describe a “positive culture” is not lost on sub-postmasters listening either.
In her statement, there are at least 12 paragraphs referring to the importance of reputation and brand.
She is challenged on this repeatedly because it goes directly to the heart of what went wrong.
The “little man” versus the corporate machine.
Asked if she was “preoccupied” with the need to “protect” the brand – she agrees she was, but “not…above the suffering of sub postmasters”.
This provokes scoffs from some watching.
She goes further to say she doesn’t “recall” it ever being a motivation, adding “with hindsight there will be many examples where that is clearly the case because the Post Office got this very wrong”.
Hindsight, as ever, with this inquiry is a wonderful thing.
But it’s not hindsight we’re after here.
It’s accountability.
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