MPs and Downing Street have demanded evidence to be disclosed in the row between Kemi Badenoch and the former Post Office chief Henry Staunton as the spat was branded as a “deeply embarrassing” political sideshow.
Political figures called for the row to be put to one side for the sake of innocent postmasters as the explosive war of words between Mr Staunton and Ms Badenoch continued.
Former Conservative peer Baroness Wheatcroft, who is now a cross-bench peer, said the focus should be on the people whose lives have been ruined by the saga. She added: “It really shouldn’t be happening. The issue here is the victims. This isn’t helping them at all… It’s a sideshow.”
Labour MP Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons business and trade committee, which is investigating the Horizon scandal, added: “What we could do without right now is a war of words between the secretary of state and the former chairman. What we really need is ministers writing checks to the hundreds of subpostmasters who need redress, and they’ve been waiting for too long.”
It came as:
- It was claimed that Lord David Cameron’s government knew the Post Office dropped a probe that may have helped wrongly-accused subpostmasters prove there were flaws in the Horizon accounting software
- Mr Byrne and Number 10 urged Mr Staunton to provide the relevant papers to back up his claim that senior civil servants gave him a “go slow” order on issuing compensation for victims of the Horizon scandal
- Another senior Labour MP, Chris Bryant, said the row “doesn’t quite add up”, adding: “I suspect this story isn’t over”
- Downing Street said “it was right” for Ms Badenoch to make a statement about the circumstances surrounding Mr Staunton’s departure
The war of words between the Business Secretary and Henry Staunton escalated on Monday
The row began when the former post office boss, who was sacked by Ms Badenoch last month, said he had been told to stall compensation payouts for postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal.
But in a statement to the Commons, the business secretary said there was “no evidence whatsoever” of his account and branded it “a blatant attempt to seek revenge” for his sacking.
She also claimed he was being investigated over bullying allegations before he was fired as chairman, and that concerns were raised about his “willingness to co-operate” with the probe.
Hitting back later on Monday, a spokesperson for Mr Staunton said Ms Badenoch had made an “astonishing series of claims” about the saga and that Mr Staunton had no knowledge of the allegations.
It was later reported that ministers in now foreign secretary Lord Cameron’s government were allegedly told that Post Office bosses had dropped a secret investigation that may have helped to prove postmasters’ innocence.
The BBC revealed a 2016 internal investigation into how and why cash accounts on the Horizon IT system had been tampered with – which spanned 17 years of records – was suddenly dropped after postmasters began legal action.
But despite the investigation, the organisation still argued in court that it was impossible for Fujitsu to remotely access accounts – raising questions about why the government did not intervene.
Lord David Cameron’s government reportedly knew the Post Office dropped a probe that may have helped wrongly-accused subpostmasters prove there were flaws in the Horizon accounting software
There is no evidence in the documents that then-prime minister Lord Cameron personally knew about the investigation or that it had been ditched.
But the revelations suggest the Post Office knew that Fujitsu staff could remotely amend cash balances in branch accounts, even though it later repeatedly claimed this was impossible.
And they raise questions over what ministers knew about the Post Office’s internal inquiry and why they allowed it to be junked.
A spokesperson for Lord Cameron pointed to his previous comments saying he could not remember being briefed about the Horizon scandal while he was prime minister.
The foreign secretary, who was in No 10 between 2010 and 2016 as hundreds of subpostmasters were being pursued, said in January: “I don’t recall in any detail being briefed or being aware of the scale of this issue.”
He added that anyone who was involved in government over the last two decades had to be “extremely sorry” for the miscarriage of justice.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
