Royal Mail is a critical national asset – it should be treated as such

Labour may see a split as an opportunity to renationalise the Royal Mail, convinced that the state would make a better fist of reviving it. But shorn of the cross-subsidies that a highly profitable parcels operation provides, mounting losses from letter deliveries risk being immediately thrust onto the taxpayer. It’s worth noting that number two shareholder Redwheel has said that GLS alone is worth 350p per share.

Křetínský’s interest must be subject to a fresh national security review. The 48-year-old has already passed one such test when his stake went over the 25pc mark, despite the obvious risk that a shareholder surpassing such levels is able to exercise creeping control over important decisions.

There are also lingering questions about his ties to Russia. Křetínský’s investments in the energy industry include EP Infrastructure, which owns part of Eustream, a company that operates the gas-transmission system that enables Russian gas to be piped to central and eastern Europe.

But the burning issue is not really whether Křetínský is a suitable buyer or not, it’s whether we are prepared to allow the Royal Mail to be sold at all. 

Letters may be of diminishing importance but it is still responsible for the delivery of 7 billion pieces of mail a year, – many of them important documents such as NHS appointments, benefits appeals, and parking fines.

Selling it to private money would raise serious questions about the integrity of the network and service, threatening our national resilience. 

Have we forgotten the critical role that posties played in getting Covid tests to people during the pandemic?

A country that cannot get something as basic yet fundamental as its postal service right cannot expect to be taken seriously. Křetínský is weighing an improved bid but even though Royal Mail has plenty of experience of Czechs in the post it’s hard to see how this one won’t be bounced.