Royal Mail
Royal Mail is a corporation and the postal service for the United Kingdom.
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History
The 20th century saw frequent restructuring of British. In no small part, this is because the royal charter for the General Post Office (GPO) covered all communications from specific senders to specific recipients, which was interpreted to include telecoms.
In 1969, Wilson restructured the GPO through the Post Office Act. It became the Post Office, a state owned company, and the ministerial responsibilities were reassigned to the minister of Posts and Telecommunications. That position would be entirely abolished in 1974 and responsibilities went to the Home Office.
Thatcher initiated a restructuring shortly following the 1979 election. Telecoms were split off and taken over by British Telecom (BT) in 1981. Postal services were split into four separate companies: Royal Mail Letters, Royal Mail Parcels, Post Office Counters, and the National Girobank.
Blair significantly reformed the postal service. First, through the Postal Services Act in 2000, he restructured the Post Office into a public corporation (still wholly owned by the government). The act also established the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) to regulate it. The Post Office shortly thereafter rebranded to Royal Mail. Then in 2006 the state monopoly on mail was broken, with Royal Mail now accepting presorted mail for delivery.
Cameron pushed the Postal Services Act in 2011, authorizing the government to sell shares of Royal Mail. It also abolished Postcomm and moved its responsibilities to Ofcom. Royal Mail was finally completely privatized in 2013.