It would be a tragic irony if, in response to the inexcusable failures of the government-owned Post Office, a legal remedy available to those wronged were to be revoked. Indeed, such an act would require lawyers and the public to put unrestrained faith in the exact same government that has failed to adequately supervise its own Post Office.
The inertia and partiality to be guarded against has been long recognised by our courts and the importance of the remedy of private prosecutions always enforced. In Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers [1978] AC 435, [1977] 3 All ER 70, Lord Wilberforce said: ‘The individual… who wishes to see the law enforced has a remedy of his own: he can bring a private prosecution. This historical right, which goes right back to the earliest days of our legal system… remains a valuable constitutional safeguard against inertia or partiality on the part of authority.’
It is precisely that partiality or worse
