Rishi Sunak would “strongly support” the body which reviews honours if it decided to look at revoking former Post Office boss Paula Vennells’ CBE in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal.
There have been growing calls grow for the former Post Office chief executive to hand back her CBE after an ITV drama returned the miscarriage of justice to the spotlight.
The PM’s official spokesman said that Mr Sunak would “strongly support” the forfeiture committee “if they were to choose to investigate”.
A petition addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the committee which re-examines honours, calling for Ms Vennells to lose her honour has already attracted more than one million signatures.
Justice secretary Alex Chalk is meeting Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake on Monday to discuss how to help convicted branch managers clear their names. Mr Chalk will make a statement in the Commons later.
The PM, speaking in Lancashire on Monday, defended the government’s response – but said ministers were now “on it” and wanted to speed up the compensation process for victims.
“People should know that we are on it, and we want to make this right, that money has been set aside,” Mr Sunak said.
Rishi Sunak during a visit to the Accrington Stanley Community Sports Hub
The Tory leader added: “We will do everything we can to make this right for the people affected. It is simply wrong what happened. They shouldn’t have been treated like this.”
Ms Vennells – who ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system – has said she is “truly sorry” for the “suffering” caused to sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of offences.
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting softwar Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.
Mr Hollinrake last month said calls to strip her of the CBE honour should be considered, while campaigning Labour MP Kevan Jones has long backed such a move.
Labour’s shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said on Monday the honour is an “insult” and should be handed back. “I do think she should give that back,” he told TalkTV.
Calls have grown for ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to lose her CBE
On Monday Sir Keir Starmer called for prosecution powers to be stripped from the Post Office and previous convictions looked at again, as well as calling on the Sunak government to “get on” with compensation.
No 10 on Monday did not say whether removing prosecution powers would be among the options considered by Mr Chalk and Mr Hollinkrake – but Mr Sunak’s spokesman said ministers were “looking at what went wrong and what lessons can be learned”.
Ahead of his statement in the Commons, Mr Hollinrake said interim payments of up to £168,000 had been made to known victims. The Post Office minister – who said 64 per cent of known victims have accepted full settlement – said he is “working day and night to do more”.
The scandal is top of the agenda as politicians return to Westminster after the Christmas break, with senior Tory David Davis and former Labour minister Mr Jones pushing for an emergency debate on the issue.
Keir Starmer, who mets residents in Loughborough, East Midlands hit by flooding, says the government must ‘get on’ with compensation
The Labour leader, speaking during a visit in Loughborough, said: “I think that the prosecution should be taken out of the hands of the Post Office and given to the Crown Prosecution Service.”
“And these convictions, the remaining convictions, need to be looked at en masse,” said Sir Keir, before adding: “The government could pass legislation, so obviously we’d support that if they did.”
The public inquiry into the scandal has uncovered dozens of covert recordings of senior Post Office staff – including Ms Vennells – discussing the scandal, according to The Times.
Around 80 recordings will be sent to participants, including former Post Office postmasters, in the days ahead. “They’re conversations with Post Office top brass including Paula Vennells. It’s very damning,” an inquiry source said.
Ms Vennells has reportedly hired the top legal firm Mishcon de Reya to represent her as she prepares to give evidence at the public inquiry later this year. She said in 2022 that she was “truly sorry for the suffering caused to wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters and their families”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has “serious questions to answer” over his role in the Horizon IT scandal, former Post Office branch managers have said.
Sir Ed Davey says he wishes he could have done more as Post Office minister
Sir Ed, who was leader was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and has been accused of “fobbing off” victims. Jo Hamilton, who led a landmark appeal for postmasters, told The Times: “He always calls for other people’s resignations, now it’s time for him to look in the mirror.”
The Lib Dem leader has taken to Twitter 31 times to call for public figures to resign their positions since becoming Lib Dem leader in April 2019. A spokesman for Sir Ed said “in hindsight he wishes he could have done more to help them”.
Tory Treasury minister Bim Afolami told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Lib Dem had a duty to explain why he did not “ask the right questions” while in government.
But Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem leader, told the programme that Sir Ed was being made a “scapegoat” by the Tories because it is an election year.
Nigel Farage said Sir Keir should explain why he did not intervene in the Horizon IT scandal while he was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013. “He has serious questions to answer,” the ex-Brexit Party leader tweeted on X.
There has been fresh public backlash to the scandal after ITV aired a drama about the scandal last week starring actor Toby Jones. Reports suggest since Mr Bates Vs The Post Office was broadcast, 50 new potential victims have approached lawyers.
Scotland Yard said on Friday that officers are “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”. The Metropolitan Police had already been looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice in relation to investigations carried out by the Post Office.
