Postal Services Bill

Debate between Lord Christopher and Lord Clarke of Hampstead

Wednesday 6th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Christopher]

My Lords, I am slightly nonplussed to see two of these amendments grouped together as they are entirely at one, but we will live with that. As the Committee knows from what I have said previously, I am not sure that we are likely to get a buyer for Royal Mail that we shall come to love as much as we love Royal Mail. However, one has only to express some surprise that Cadbury chocolate is now made by an American cheese firm to realise that these difficult things happen.

We seek to achieve that, whatever may happen, the Queen’s head will appear on stamps. I hope that the Government will have no difficulty accepting this strengthening of the Bill. My noble friend Lord Clarke and I are slightly nonplussed because he has a print of the Bill that already includes the word “must”, and I have a print of the Bill that says “may”. I am happy with his print and I hope that the Minister will not contradict it.

I wish that I could speak as briefly on the other amendment that I wish to address, but I do not think I can. The reason for that is quite simple; I was wholly ignorant of the existence of a post office museum on such a scale as the one that exists. Ministers have tended to talk about an archive, and I always think of dungeons and cellars when in fact it is a very substantial museum. It was established as an independent charity and the principal and significant funder is Royal Mail. The museum has post office and Royal Mail records dating from the 17th century and is designated as an outstanding collection, which I do not believe is gained easily. It has statues and an archive that matches any that you might find at Kew, and illustrates the history of the postal system. I shall list some, at any rate, of its artefacts. It has stamps and their artwork; photographs, posters and design; records relating to the birth of mass communication; and technological reform in the Victorian era and the Penny Black stamp. It also has material relating to war and emergencies; material relating to films, broadcasting, censorship and politics; maps; and records of staff, finance and buildings essential to local and family history. Ten other things are also listed.

The museum is of great significance to the history of this country and to some degree the world, because we led the way in postal service. It has 36 full-time staff and 20 regular volunteers. It was part of the London Festival of Stamps in January this year. It accepts visits from schools and staff make visits to schools. There are around 1 million public visits, either on the net or in person. What is at stake is the money that keeps it going. One had better be frank about this; it receives £725,000 a year in cash from Royal Mail for its archive services and nearly £750,000 of items in kind. It has a donation—for which I trust Royal Mail gets tax relief—of £1,280,000 a year. The total is nearly £2,750,000. The amendment proposes that whoever takes on Royal Mail shall take on responsibility for the archive of the history of 400 years which it has inherited.

[Lord Clarke of Hampstead]

My Lords, obviously I completely support my noble friend. I do not intend to delay the Committee any longer than I have to, except to say that many years ago I went to the then postal museum in Bruce Castle in Tottenham—I hope noble Lords will forgive me for mentioning Tottenham, the day after its problems. It was also the home of Rowland Hill and the City of London Middlesex Regiment. I remember asking the curator of the museum, “Are you a philatelist? Do you collect stamps?”. As a postman, I never collected stamps because they lay all over the floor and you did not want to get involved with what was then called the investigation branch. Miss Flint turned to me and said, “Mr Clarke, stamps are just a bagatelle. I collect the waybills for the livery and the hay for the horses that fell off the stagecoaches between the various cities”. So I was put in my place about postal history.

I am concerned about the memorials to the fallen from two world wars in a number of Post Office buildings. I am concerned that the many works of art should be preserved, and I wholeheartedly agree with my noble friend Lord Christopher that we must provide the wherewithal.

Above all, my reason for speaking is to ask the Minister, who knows that I have this interest, what has happened to the Post Office railway. Do we still own it? I know that it is in mothballs. We used to get mail conveyed under the ground using an efficient post office railway system rather than having trucks rumbling around the streets, filling the air with fumes. I am just curious. Has it been sold already by the Post Office or is it an asset that will be taken into account in the valuation, which I hope will happen before too long?

I fully support the three amendments, and am anxious to know what has happened to that train. Some nasty people put me in one of the carriages when I was 15 years of age and sent me from Mount Pleasant up to Oxford Street, and I had to find my own way back. That was a punishment in those days for cheeky boys. It was a terrifying experience, but I want to know what has happened to the railway.