The counsel brings up a letter from 2009, sent by Lord Arbuthnot to Lord Peter Mandelson, who was business secretary at the time in the then Labour government.

The letter notes that a significant number of sub-postmasters being accused of fraud were saying the Horizon IT system was responsible, including the two people in his constituency.

The lawyer asks him why he, as an opposition MP, was writing to the then Secretary of State, to which he Arbuthnot says "the government owned the Post Office".

Arbuthnot wrote again a month later, with information highlighting the possible errors in Horizon, asking that the government investigate the matters fully and take action.

"I was not hugely interested in intricacies of who was responsible for what, I was just wanted it sorted out," Arbuthnot says.

Jason Beer, a lawyer asking questions on behalf of the inquiry, refers to Lord Arbuthnot's “exceptionally detailed” 180-page witness statement.

He begins by asking the former MP about the events of 3 April 2009, when he met former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton at a constituency coffee morning and his extensive involvement in this issue began.

During that year he became of some reporting on the subject and a second case in his own constituency of a sub-postmaster called Paul Bristow, he says.

Image source, Post Office inquiry

Lord Arbuthnot is being sworn in and is about to start giving his evidence.

He became involved in campaigning for Post Office scandal victims after learning about the case of Jo Hamilton - a former Post Office branch manager who was wrongly convicted of fraud. At the time, she was a constituent in the Hampshire seat where Lord Arbuthnot served as an MP until 2015.

Since then he's continued to speak out on behalf of victims and sits on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, which advises the government on related matters.

You might remember him being portrayed by Alex Jennings in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

The Post Office inquiry is just about to get started.

We will hear first from Lord Arbuthnot, a former Tory MP who has been a vocal campaigner on behalf of sub-postmasters and currently serves on an independent advisory board which oversees compensation related to the scandal.

You can watch all the latest from Aldwych House by pressing Play at the top of the page.

Image source, PA Media

Yesterday at the inquiry we heard from Alan Bates - the former sub-postmaster who led the campaign to expose the Horizon IT scandal and was portrayed by Toby Jones in ITV's drama about the case.

Here’s a recap of what he had to say:

• He first warned the Post Office about issues with the Horizon accounting system back in 2000
• Letters between Bates and senior figures from the post office and government showed how he made several attempts to get help about the issues cropping up at his branch and others
• A Post Office helpline proved “unhelpful” for Bates when he uncovered the unexplained shortfalls at his branch
• Bates said being sacked with three months' notice without reason supported his belief that the organisation didn’t like him standing up to it
• He branded the Post Office an "atrocious organisation" which needs “disbanding and needs building up again from the ground floor"
• He said the Post Office was being run by "little more than thugs in suits" in 2010 and had spent 23 years trying to "discredit and silence" him
• Bates also said he was "concerned" former chief executive Paula Vennells was "not being told the full story" about investigations by forensic accountants

Sean Seddon
Live reporter

We expect to hear some evidence later about the compensation schemes available to people impacted by the Post Office scandal.

It's a very complicated system and has been repeatedly criticised for being too slow at getting money to those who are entitled to it.

We've produced a detailed guide covering how it all works but here are the key points:

• More than 4,000 former sub-postmasters have been told they are entitled to some form of compensation - but the scheme they can apply to depends on their circumstances
• For the 555 people who took part in the landmark court case led by Alan Bates, there is the Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme
• For the almost 1,000 people who were wrongly convicted, there is the Overturned Convictions scheme
• Then there is the Horizon Shortfall scheme - this is intended for people who spent their own money to cover Post Office debts but haven't been convicted and didn't take part in the Bates court case
• According to the most recent data, approximately £160m has been paid to over 2,700 people so far - but many are still waiting or could be entitled to more

Image source, Getty Images

More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from a computer system called Horizon, in what has been called the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice.

The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015.

Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service(CPS).

Many went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined.

In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office.

In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money went on legal fees.

A draft report uncovered by the BBC shows the Post Office spent £100m fighting the group in court despite knowing its defence was untrue. The Post Office has said it would be "inappropriate" to comment.

Although campaigners won the right for cases to be reconsidered, only 95 convictions had been overturned by mid-January 2024.

You can read about the scandal here.

Today marks the second day of the inquiry’s phases five and six.

It is looking at redress, access to justice, responding to the scandal, oversight and whistleblowing.

Lord Arbuthnot is a Tory peer who has been a vocal campaigner on behalf of sub-postmasters. The former MP for North East Hampshire first became involved with the issue in 2009 when approached by one of his constituents who was caught up in the scandal.

Sir Anthony Hooper, a former judge who used to sit on Court of Appeal who previously led the Working Group for the Initial Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme.

Former postmaster Alan Bates spoke to the inquiry yesterday about a letter he had sent to Hooper about his dwindling trust in the Working Group.

Sean Seddon
Live reporter

Thank you for joining us this morning as we bring you all the latest updates from the ongoing inquiry into the Post Office scandal.

Today we will hear evidence from Lord Arbuthnot, a former MP and vocal campaigner on behalf of former sub-postmasters and postmistresses. He now sits on the panel which advises ministers on compensation matters, so we expect to hear quite a lot about the problems which have led to delays in people receiving money.

After that we’ll hear from Sir Anthony Hooper, a former senior judge who was chair of a Post Office mediation scheme between 2013 to 2015 which looked at issues arising from Horizon.

As ever, we don’t fully know what to expect from today’s hearing but we’ll be listening to every word and bringing you the most important details.