I want to offer you a Law. Let’s call it (modestly!) Herbert’s First Law of Human Behaviour. It states: “It is always easier to blame others than to accept responsibility oneself.”

We have seen this Law operating at full stretch in the Post Office inquiry. No-one has yet said “it was my fault”.

Everyone has blamed someone else, usually a person above them in the hierarchy. And as the inquiry continues, the First Law of Human Behaviour will have a field day.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not making light of the seriousness of the issue. Injustices must be put right.

The ITV drama highlighted the grim and life-changing circumstances in which hundreds of individuals found themselves, but we also need to ask why it has taken a TV play to bring matters to a head.  

There are some other questions I should also like to see answered: did anyone know, years ago, that something was going wrong? If so, what was their reaction? 

Was the computer software trialled by an expert in-house group…trialled to the point of destruction, to discover any glitches before it was roiled out across the country?

Did the manufacturers of that software themselves conduct trials of their product to ensure that it was fit-for-purpose? If they did, were they satisfied with the rigour of their processes? 

Within the Post Office, did the board of directors encourage a culture in which non-execs were empowered to ask searching and tough questions? If not, why not?

And the Government cannot escape. In the 25 years since the Horizon computer programme was introduced, there have been 19 Post Office ministers serving on average 16 months each. Changing personnel with such frequency builds failure into the system.

 These are moral questions which need serious answers. Shall we get them?