Tony Blair Warned of Potential Flaws in Horizon IT System Before Rollout

Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister of the United Kingdom, was cautioned about the potential unreliability of the Horizon IT system prior to its implementation. This revelation comes from a handwritten note by Blair, published by the public inquiry, which indicates that he had raised concerns about the system’s reliability.

Despite these concerns, Blair proceeded with the rollout of the Horizon system after receiving reassurances from others, including Peter Mandelson, who was then his trade and industry secretary. In a letter dated 10 December 1998, Mandelson argued that the only sensible choice was to proceed with Horizon, as canceling the contract would result in political fallout and damage relations with Fujitsu, a major investor in the UK.

At the time, the Horizon project was being developed by Fujitsu as a means of paying welfare benefits through Post Office counters using a swipe card. However, the element of the project involving welfare payments was eventually dropped, and the system was rolled out in 1999 for tasks like accounting and stocktaking instead.

More than 900 workers were prosecuted after the faulty software wrongly made it appear that money was missing. The Horizon project, which was launched under the Conservative government, was running more than two years behind schedule by 1998, and the prime minister was asked to decide whether it should continue.

A submission sent to Blair by a special adviser at Downing Street described the system as increasingly flawed, hugely expensive, inflexible, inappropriate, and possibly unreliable. Blair requested a clear view on the system’s reliability and was advised against canceling the project.

No former minister has admitted in their evidence to the inquiry that they were aware of specific problems that led to sub-postmasters being wrongly accused of theft. Lord Mandelson’s letter also warned that canceling the contract would damage relations with Fujitsu and produce political fallout.

In September 1998, Fujitsu announced the closure of a semiconductor plant in Sir Tony Blair’s Sedgefield constituency, resulting in the loss of 600 jobs. Blair expressed concern about the impact of the closure but did not recall it being relevant to the matters being considered by the inquiry.

Lord Mandelson’s letter also emphasized the importance of the system for generating footfall needed to keep post offices open. He wrote that the damage to the confidence of sub-postmasters and the resulting network closures would produce political fallout, regardless of how carefully the cancellation was handled.

The spokesperson for Sir Tony stated that he took the issue seriously and raised concerns about the system’s viability and reliability. It is now clear that the Horizon product was seriously flawed, leading to tragic and unacceptable consequences, and he has deep sympathy for all those affected.