Post Office interim boss Brocklehurst lined up for permanent role
The acting chief executive of the Post Office is being lined up to take the job on a permanent basis as the state-owned company continues talks with ministers over its long-term funding arrangements.
Sky News has learnt that Neil Brocklehurst, who was named interim chief last September, is close to being handed the role.
Whitehall sources said on Monday that an announcement about Mr Brocklehurst's appointment was likely to be made in April.
Money latest:
The decision, which requires the approval of business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, will bring a degree of stability to an organisation still grappling with the financial and reputational consequences of the Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of fraud and false accounting.
Reliant on the government for its funding, the Post Office has been in negotiations with ministers about delivering a previously pledged pay uplift this year.
Earlier this month, Sky News reported that Nigel Railton, the company's chairman, had informed thousands of Post Office managers that he had yet to gain certainty from Whitehall about a £120m increase for this year.
The sum was promised in November as part of a strategy to rebuild the Post Office in the wake of the Horizon scandal.
The Post Office has outlined plans for an ambitious transformation which includes franchising more than 100 directly managed branches.
A substantial number of jobs are also being cut at the company's head office as part of the restructuring.
Several tranches of those have already taken place.
Mr Brocklehurst replaced Nick Read at the Post Office's helm following a turbulent period for the outgoing boss.
Mr Read was repeatedly accused of being obsessed with his pay arrangements and being at the centre of a series of rows with both board colleagues and his government employers.
Like Mr Railton, Mr Brocklehurst is a former executive at Camelot, the previous National Lottery operator.
A Post Office spokesman declined to comment, while the Department for Business and Trade has been contacted for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sky News' David Rhodes, Dow Jones CEO Talk AI 'Thugs,' Media's 'Big Mistakes,' U.S. Press Freedom
Media companies have made major mistakes in reacting to technological change in the past that must be avoided amid the rise of artificial intelligence. That was the message shared by David Rhodes, executive chairman of Sky News and the former CBS News president, and Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, both part of News Corp, during an appearance at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in London on Wednesday. They spoke in a session, which was live-streamed and entitled 'Media, Machines, and Mayhem: Truth as a Competitive Advantage.' More from The Hollywood Reporter In 'Renovation,' a Young Woman Feels the Pressure to Settle and Be Successful (Exclusive KVIFF Trailer) Sheffield DocFest Opener 'Still Pushing Pineapples' Is a Road Movie About the Singer of Much-Maligned Black Lace Hit 'Agadoo' Dreaming of a Comeback Global TV Producers On Navigating Trump's Tariff Storm: "Ignore the Distractions" 'There is a failure of imagination' when it comes to a vision for AI, Rhodes argued. 'Right now, we talk about generative AI and talk about answers to prompts, and we think only about text. But what's really important to us is to be a design partner with all of the firms … on what it looks like when something much more compelling happens, which is when these models come for video. We do want that design partnership.' Of course, the appropriate business and financial models for AI companies to use media content remains a key focus and issue of debate. Various media companies have struck licensing deals with one AI company while suing another. 'We also want to advocate for good terms of trade, for how our information, how our results turn up in answers to those prompts,' Rhodes highlighted in that context. 'We need to not repeat what were the errors of the news media in approaching Web 1.0 and even Web 2.0 and social media, where big mistakes were made.' Latour echoed that when sharing his company's approach to AI. Dow Jones has struck a licensing deal with OpenAI, but it sued Perplexity AI. 'We want a commercial arrangement with all the AI platforms. That's the foundation of it. Information has value, and we need to, through a market mechanism, arrive at that value,' he emphasized. Highlighting that Dow Jones spends $1.7 billion every year 'to perform the little miracle that is the Wall Street Journal and all of our other information,' he highlighted that nobody can expect to 'take all of your productivity from this year… give it away for free, move it into the AI machine,' and take 130 years worth of archives without appropriate pay. 'We're not going to let that happen. We need fair value for that, or otherwise, there's not going to be any news,' the CEO concluded. He didn't mince words in his follow-up comments. 'So we want to strike commercial arrangements. If you do not agree to that, you are a thug, and we'll come after you like a common thief,' Latour shared. 'We will see you in court, and we will argue our case. And that may sound belligerent, but it is a necessity.' Rhodes on Wednesday didn't comment on the litigation brought by U.S. President Donald Trump against CBS News over how 60 Minutes edited his former opponent Kamala Harris' answer to a question. The two sides have been in mediation talks to try and resolve the suit, with Paramount reportedly to have offered $15 million to resolve the suit. The Federal Communications Commission is also reviewing the interview via its 'news distortion' purview while also reviewing CBS parent Paramount Global's deal to sell to Skydance Media. So, is there press freedom in the United States right now? 'Yes, there is press freedom,' replied Latour. 'I get asked this question all the time, particularly when I'm traveling abroad. Our journalists can freely report, and our opinion writers are free to share their free markets, free people philosophy richly.' He continued: 'There is a free debate. The President, of course, and the administration is free to respond to that, and the decibel level has gone up. But I think there should not be hysteria.' Concluded Latour: 'The tension between an administration and established media, or other media, is common. We got clobbered when the Wall Street Journal did a front-page story on President Biden's cognitive decline, and that was not very comfortable. The decibel level has definitely gone up.' That conclusion wrapped up the session. 'In a world where seemingly every voice has a platform, where narratives can make or break a business, and where public trust in corporations and institutions has rapidly eroded, the mission of global news organizations has never been more vital – or more complex,' its description said. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Reynolds discusses British Steel row with Chinese counterpart
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has discussed the government's move to seize control of British Steel with his Chinese counterpart for the first time. Sky News understands that the fate of the Scunthorpe-based steelmaker was raised during talks this week between Mr Reynolds and Wang Wentai, China's commerce minister, on Monday. A subsequent post on social media by Mr Reynolds confirming the meeting said the pair "discussed deeper UK-China cooperation - especially in services, investment and WTO reform - and building on January's successful Economic and Financial Dialogue to drive mutual growth". Money latest: The business secretary did not refer to British Steel in the post, although officials confirmed that the company was raised briefly during their meeting. It came days after Sky News revealed that British Steel's Chinese owner had hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of its operations in April. Linklaters advised Jingye Group on its purchase of British Steel in 2021. British Steel's balance sheet bears debts worth close to £1bn, most of which is said to be owed to Jingye in the form of inter-company loans. The government and Jingye had been at loggerheads for weeks over the future of the Scunthorpe plant's blast furnaces. Since Mr Reynolds, the business secretary, moved to commandeer control of the UK's second-biggest steel producer, the government has sourced additional supplies of raw materials to ensure the furnaces' continued operations. Jingye had been preparing to close them - with the loss of thousands of jobs - after seeking £1bn in state aid to facilitate the site's transition to greener steelmaking. Politics latest: Mr Reynolds has indicated that Jingye's shares in British Steel - which has not yet been formally nationalised - are worthless, and that the government does not intend to offer to pay to acquire them. A spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: "We are working closely with Jingye and a range of third parties on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Court shown footage of alleged Hainault sword attacker unboxing samurai weapon
Police have released video footage of the alleged killer of a 14-year-old boy unboxing a samurai sword and calling the weapon "freaking sexy". Marcus Monzo, 37, denies murdering teenager Daniel Anjorin and attempting to kill four others during a 20-minute rampage in Hainault, east London, on 30 April last year. Jurors at the Old Bailey have been shown a four-minute video clip from 4 April, which was recovered from his iPhone after his arrest. The Spanish-Brazilian national, from Newham in east London, appears to be reviewing a sword he says was "handmade in Japan" and "took more than a month to reach me". Dressed in a yellow hoodie, black shorts, toe socks and flipflops, and wearing headphones, he is standing on black mats next to a ginger cat he calls the "Wizard". A martial arts-style punching bag and another sword on a skateboard can be seen in the background. "This just came through… Ninja stuff," he says before opening a long box containing a sword. "So I'm sort of obliged to do some ninja stuff with the Wizard." Monzo also says "freaking sexy" and "ooh" as he lunges and makes different moves with the sheathed sword. The court has previously heard Monzo was a "talented martial artist". Prosecutors said he "killed and skinned" his cat before driving his grey Ford Transit van at speed into pedestrian Donato Iwule. He then struck him in the neck with the same weapon used to kill Daniel, who suffered "essentially a near-decapitation", the jury was earlier told. PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield was also repeatedly struck with the 60cm blade, before Monzo entered a nearby house and attacked a couple inside, then struck another police officer, it is alleged. Monzo has pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing an offensive weapon - a katana sword and a tanto katana sword. He denies charges of murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article. Read more from Sky News:What we know about Austria school shooting15 police officers injured as Northern Ireland protests turn violent The jury has been told there is no issue about who carried out the attacks and that Monzo was under the influence of cannabis at the time. But prosecutors say his psychotic state was self-induced and does not meet the threshold for diminished responsibility. The trial continues.
