‘We have no choice’: why the strike at Royal Mail is no cookie-cutter pay row

As opening salvo begins in dispute that could reshape a UK institution, group chair does not mince his words

In a summer when picket lines have become a familiar sight, the casual observer could be forgiven for mistaking Friday's strike at Royal Mail as a cookie-cutter pay dispute. In fact, the strike, the first of four, represents the culmination of years of simmering tensions between executives and its main union. If Royal Mail's board takes the nuclear option, it could result in the break up of a 500-year-old postal service still struggling to find its feet nearly a decade after privatisation.

The corporate drama intensified on Thursday when the government said it would step in to review the billionaire Daniel Ketinsky's stake in the company. The investor, known as the Czech Sphinx owing to his inscrutable public persona, hopes to raise his Vesa Equity Investment's shareholding in Royal Mail from 22% to above 25%, sparking speculation he may launch a full takeover bid.