As he sprang up on screen delivering another cheery missive from his car, Simon Thompson had a touch of the travelling salesman about him. It was early 2021 and the former Ocado executive was touring Royal Mail’s offices not long after taking the top job there, addressing his 100,000 new charges by video with his familiar “hi team” refrain.
Fast forward to late 2022 and thousands of angry postal workers dressed in bright pink high-vis clothing were thundering outside parliament, shouting “we want Thompson out”. A school child on the picket line sang ditties urging his departure. The regular perky videos to staff, seen as red rags to the Communication Workers’ Union bull, had been quietly ditched.
