Michael Keegan

Michael Keegan    (businessman, civil servant, PhD candidate)
Born	Michael Geoffrey Keegan July 1962
Alma mater	Exeter University, King's College London
Parents	Denis Keegan
Spouse	Gillian Keegan
Interests	BAE Systems
Crown Representative In office September 2019 - Present Employer Cabinet Office  Non Executive Director In office November 2018 - Present Employer Centerprise International Ltd  Vice President In office July 2015 - Present Employer TechUK Ltd  Five senior positions In office March 2006 - July 2018 Employer Fujitsu  Partner In office October 2001 - October 2010 Employer TPK Partnership LLP  Non Executive Director In office October 2004 - April 2008 Employer Welcome Real Time  Head of Identity Services In office September 2004 - March 2006 Employer Royal Mail/Post Office Ltd  Chief Executive In office April 2002 - August 2004 Employer Magex  Chief Executive of Mondex International Subsidiary In office July 1996 - August 2001 Employer MasterCard International  Senior Executive In office 1984 - 1996 Employer Nat West  Councillor In office June 1986 - May 1990 Employer London Borough of Lambeth  Research Assistant to MPs In office December 1980 - July 1984 Employer House of Commons

Michael Keegan is a UK civil servant employed as Crown Representative in the Cabinet Office and is seconded to the Ministry of Defence working with military supplier BAE Systems since September 2019.

On 31 August 2023, Michael Keegan reposted the following tweet from BAE Systems:

Today we’ve announced a new local legal entity and signed agreements with the Ukrainian Government to ramp up our support to Ukraine’s armed forces and to explore the supply of light guns to Ukraine.

Read more 🔗 http://baes.co/HBEA50PGqAK

More Tory cronyism?

Michael Keegan is a Non Executive Director for the IT supplier Centerprise International Ltd, which has won a number of Ministry of Defence contracts since September 2019 including several worth more than £1m.

On 6 September 2022, the Daily Mail reported:

Fresh accusations of Tory cronyism surfaced today as it was revealed that a health minister's husband's firm was handed millions of taxpayer cash.

Michael Keegan, 60, who is married to Minister of State for Care and Mental Health Gillian Keegan, sits on the board of IT firm Centerprise International Ltd.

Yet, he is also a Cabinet Office representative responsible for securing deals with suppliers working with the Ministry of Defence, it was claimed.

Centerprise International received 17 Government contracts from October 2019 to May 2020 amounting to £24million, the Sun revealed.

But the Cabinet Office hit back at the claims, insisting Mr Keegan plays 'no role' in awarding contracts.

The Daily Mirror returned to Michael Keegan's potential conflict of interest in an article dated 5 September 2023 and entitled "Gillian Keegan's department gave £1m from rebuilding pot to firm linked to husband".

Sponsoring the Speaker

On 29 June 2017, when Gillian Keegan made her maiden speech to Parliament, Speaker John Bercow said:

"Order. In congratulating the hon. Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan) on her maiden speech, I want to say two things in the name of transparency.

"First, I inform the House that the hon. Lady is the godmother of two of my children.

"Secondly, although it has been declared in all the appropriate places, I nevertheless take this opportunity to declare to the House that her husband Michael — my very good friend of 32 years — generously contributed to each of my last three election campaign funds in the Buckingham constituency."

Mature student

In 2021 Michael Keegan became a PhD research student at the Department of War Studies, King's College London where he recently completed his MA. His research interest centres around the Naval and Political career of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes and his relationship with Winston Churchill. His research interests are:

• British Naval and Defence policy in the first half of the 20th Century
• The Dardanelles campaign and the Zeebrugge raid. Combined Operations Directorate
• The overthrow of the Appeasement policy in the 1930’s and 1940

Thesis title: "A critical re-assessment of the career and contribution of Admiral Sir Roger Keyes."

Back to business

Prior to his PhD studies, Michael Keegan had a 35-year career in business and held executive management positions with Fujitsu, MasterCard and NatWest Bank. He is currently Vice Chair of TechUK, a member of Corporate Advisory Board of the Prince's Trust and a Crown Representative for the Cabinet Office seconded to the MOD.

Fujitsu and Sub-postmasters

On 24 May 2021, Baroness Hayter spoke in the House of Lords about the British Post Office scandal:

My Lords, no one who knows this story can feel other than shame that a government-owned institution, the Post Office, oversaw—nay, facilitated—the biggest miscarriage of justice that we have seen, with nearly 1,000 false prosecutions as well as bankruptcies, prison and unemployment all flowing from the actions of Fujitsu and the Post Office, and indeed from the lack of action from the Post Office’s shareholder, the Government.

The Minister knows we are delighted that the inquiry will now be statutory—though somewhat bemused that it has taken a month for the Government to reach that conclusion—and that a progress report will be made public, but there remain other concerns. First, while we agree with the Statement that “We cannot undo the damage”, we can move faster and with generosity on the question of compensation. Perhaps the Minister can explain why the inquiry will not cover compensation, and assure us that speed will be of the essence in beginning to help those so badly affected by this sorry saga. Can he update the House on the appointment of a new Post Office director to handle compensation and ensure that this will not replicate the disgraceful Windrush scheme?

Secondly, there is the major issue of the lack of accountability of those who were deeply implicated in the lies and lack of openness that led to the prosecutions and the delay in dealing with the results. Michael Keegan was Fujitsu’s chief executive when the company was telling the Post Office that Horizon was fine and when its staff were even appearing in court as prosecution witnesses against the sub-postmasters. He does not appear to have suffered any penalty and indeed is now a Crown Representative at the Cabinet Office, where he oversees the Government’s relationships with suppliers. Given that Fujitsu continues to work with the Post Office, a £42 million extension to the Horizon contract having been agreed with the Post Office last month, can the Minister assure the House that Mr Keegan would have had no role in any such decision?

We continue to worry about the role that Fujitsu played in covering up concerns about Horizon and in facilitating the blame-shifting to sub-postmasters and their subsequent prosecutions, actions for which the company appears not to have paid a penny in compensation. What discussions are taking place in that regard?

The Post Office, which now wants taxpayers to take on its liabilities over this issue, has still not explained why no one questioned how it was that a vast cohort of upright citizens—people selected and trusted to run sub-post offices and handle public money—all at the same moment became petty thieves, as if a dishonesty virus had suddenly taken hold. Did nobody notice? The management incompetence at the highest level, as senior directors watched unlikely criminals paraded in court, still beggars belief.

I turn to the Government, the Post Office’s only shareholder, which somehow failed to spot what journalists, the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, and finally the court did: that the Post Office was abusing its power over postmasters, failing to question Fujitsu and prosecuting a swathe of unlikely thieves. Will the Minister acknowledge the Government’s failure of oversight and due diligence, with drastic consequences both for individuals and for taxpayers?

We welcome the fact that the inquiry will now be statutory, but my plea to the Minister is: will he ensure that in parallel to the inquiry the Government themselves take a close look at how they oversee not just the Post Office but all expenditure, personnel and IT decisions to ensure that there is sufficient curiosity, challenge, openness and honesty, so that taxpayers’ money and people’s lives are never again put at the risk of a saga like this one?

Vindicated

On 25 November 2022, Michael Keegan appeared to have been vindicated:

The Sunday Times has been found to have breached the editors’ code in writings about Chichester MP’s husband, Michael Keegan, over inaccurate reporting concerning his alleged role in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Mr Keegan worked for Fujitsu between 2006 and 2018 but only held responsibility for the UK business of the Post Office for a short period of 13 months between 2014 and 2015.

Newspaper regulator IPSO found the Sunday Times made inaccurate associations between Keegan and the Horizon scandal. The Independent Press Standards Organisation ruled in October 2022 that the Sunday Times had presented conjecture as fact and that they had also presented no evidence that Keegan was linked to the litigation of the sub postmasters. The Sunday Times was found to have committed two breaches of the editors’ code under 'Article 1' which covers accurate journalism - the regulator has published its rulings on the IPSO website.

In a subsequent development, Labour peer Baroness Diane Hayter, who had named Mr Keegan in the House of Lords in May 2021, has written to him publicly withdrawing her remarks. Baroness Hayter went on to say in a letter dated 22 November 2022 seen by the Chichester Observer that:

"I wanted to write this letter to make it known that I would not have referred to you by name or made the remarks I did during the debate had the true facts of the matter been accurately reported at the time. The cause of seeking justice for those sub postmasters who have suffered because of the Post Office Horizon scandal is not served by inaccurate journalism based on misleading conjecture disguised as fact. I am therefore pleased to be able to set the record straight publicly."

Michael Keegan added: "I am pleased that the press regulator IPSO has found in my favour concerning the inaccurate and misleading coverage of the Post Office Horizon scandal by The Sunday Times in 2021 and 2022. I am also grateful to Baroness Hayter for acting honourably and withdrawing the remarks she made about me which were based on this inaccurate journalism. Going forward the focus must be on securing justice for the victims."

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.