The former postal affairs minister Jo Swinson has railed against the “Orwellian” and “duplicitous” behaviour of some civil servants who kept her in the dark about goings on at the Post Office, as she made a tearful apology for failing to expose the Horizon IT scandal.
The former Liberal Democrat leader, who held the postal brief in 2012-13 and again in 2014-15 in the coalition government, also said she deeply regretted turning down a meeting with Sir Alan Bates.
