Mr Read’s predecessor, Paula Vennells, came in for excoriating criticism in the media and at the inquiry, for her role running the publicly-owned firm between 2012 and 2019.
When he took over Mr Read faced a mammoth task to turn around the loss-making Post Office at a time when the organisation was facing a crisis of faith as the scale of the Horizon scandal came to light.
Mr Read stepped back from his role in July to prepare to appear before the inquiry which is due to reconvene later this month.
Representatives for the sub-postmasters have raised concerns over why justice and compensation have taken so long to be delivered.
“He really hasn’t achieved anything, has he?” said Sir Alan. “He certainly hasn’t done anything for the victims in all of this.”
Sir Alan called for Mr Read’s successor to come in “with a big sweeping brush and clear the whole thing out”.
The inquiry is likely to challenge Mr Read on what lessons have been learned and applied at the Post Office, under his tenure.
He has already blotted his copybook with the inquiry’s chair Sir Wyn Williams over a £450,000 bonus he was due to receive. The bonus was in part for meeting performance targets that included fully cooperating with the public inquiry.
Sir Wyn issued a rebuke, saying the payment could not be justified, as the inquiry was still in its first phase.
Mr Read returned a portion of the bonus.
There was another undignified squabble around Mr Read’s pay packet earlier this year.
Former chair of the post office, Henry Staunton, claimed that Mr Read had been unhappy with his pay, which amounted to £573,000, including bonuses in 2022-23.
His claim was backed by a former HR director who claimed Mr Read had repeatedly threatened to resign unless he was given a pay rise above 5%. He denied the claim and a subsequent unpublished report cleared him of all misconduct allegations.
