Ministers call for former Post Office chief exec to lose CBE
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Rishi Sunak is under pressure to intervene in the Post Office honours row as a petition calling for the former chief executive to lose her CBE surpassed one million signatures.
More than one million people have signed an online petition calling for Paula Vennells, who led the Post Office when sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted, to be stripped of the honour.
Two cabinet ministers also said the former chief executive should lose her CBE awarded in 2019 over the Horizon IT scandal, described as “the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British legal history”.
Mr Sunak said on Sunday ministers were considering options including exonerating all those unjustly convicted, and stripping the Post Office of handling the appeals process, with announcements expected this week.
Backbench campaigners over the scandal are attempting to force a debate in the House of Commons today or tomorrow as they call for much tougher punishments on those responsible.
Renewed focus has also turned to Ms Vennells, who was CEO of the Post Office between 2012 to 2019 and was given a CBE at the end of her tenure.
Calls for her to be stripped of the honour are now being voiced at the top of the Government, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
One Cabinet minister said they had been moved to tears by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office which has forced the scandal back into the headlines this month.
‘Sought to defend the indefensible’
The minister said of Ms Vennells: “She should definitely lose her CBE. It is absolutely disgraceful what has happened to these people.”
A second Cabinet minister said that if Ms Vennells did not wilfully give up her honour then she should have it removed.
“She wilfully obfuscated and sought to defend the indefensible and that is just not honourable or becoming of the office”, the minister said.
Mr Sunak on Sunday called the scandal “an appalling miscarriage of justice”. But, like Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, he has not endorsed calls for Ms Vennells to lose her CBE.
More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted and convicted between 1999 and 2015 based on information from the Horizon accounting system which made it look like money was missing. To date, fewer than 100 convictions have been overturned.
Decisions on revoking an honour are made by the honours forfeiture committee, which is convened under the Cabinet Office but is arms length from government ministers.
While the Prime Minister has no formal role in deciding what cases the committee considers, in the past UK leaders have expressed backing for a case being scrutinised.
Lord Cameron, when prime minister in January 2012, said it was “right” that the committee looked at whether Fred Goodwin should lose his knighthood.
Mr Goodwin is the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which was nationalised in 2008 after making a £24.1 billion loss. He eventually had his knighthood removed.
Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced former Hollywood mogul found guilty of rape and sexual assault, was stripped of his CBE in 2020 after his conviction.
‘An appalling miscarriage of justice’
The forfeiture committee says on its website “there is an expectation that those who receive an honour are, and will continue to be, good citizens and role models”.
Sir Chris Wormald, the Permanent Secretary of the Health Department, chairs the six-person committee, which has a majority of independent members.
The committee never confirms whether it is looking at individual cases. Sometimes a decision to remove an honour is made public once taken, though this is not obligated.
In April 2022, Sir Tom Scholar, then the committee’s chairman, indicated no decision would be taken until the Horizon IT public inquiry was completed. It is unclear when that will happen.
Ms Vennells has apologised in the past for what occurred, saying back in April 2021: “I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to the 39 sub-postmasters as a result of their convictions which were overturned last week.”
Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, and Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister whose brief includes the Post Office, will meet on Monday to discuss proposals to speed up compensation.
Mr Chalk said: “This was an appalling miscarriage of justice. I am concerned that many sub-postmasters remain convicted, and I am exploring what lawful options are available to speed up and secure justice.”
The Post Office scandal has been described by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice the CCRC has ever seen and represents the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history”.
