Sunak would ‘strongly’ back honours probe into ex-Post Office boss’s CBE

Rishi Sunak would “strongly support” the body that 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 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 prime minister’s official spokesperson said that Mr Sunak would “strongly support” the forfeiture committee “if they were to choose to investigate”.

It came as Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake announced a new, independent panel to review compensation disputes – calling the scandal “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.

However, Tory MPs urged to the government to go further and come up with legislation to overturn convictions on mass. And Labour leader Keir Starmer called on Mr Sunak to strip the Post Office of prosecution powers.

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.

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 those wrongly labelled as guilty.

More than 700 post office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting software Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.

A petition addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the committee which re-examines honours, calling for Ms Vennells to lose hers has already attracted more than one million signatures.

Labour’s shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said on Monday the honour is an “insult” and should be handed back.

Mr Hollinrake told the Commons that it is “perfectly reasonable” to ask the former Post Office boss to hand back her CBE after this had gone “so badly wrong”. But the minister added: “But that’s a matter for the person concerned.”

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.

Mr Hollinrake announced in the Commons that Sir Gary Hickinbottom has agreed to chair an independent panel to look at the financial “losses” for Horizon scandal victims “where disputes arise”.

The minister said he and justice secretary had “devised” some options for overturning convictions much more quickly – but did not reveal whether there would be any legislation, or whether the Post Office would be stripped of its prosecuting role.

Mr Hollinrake said Mr Chalk would “need to speak to senior figures in the judiciary about those options before we put them forward” – with proposals to come “in due course.”

Hinting at changes to the Post Office’s powers, the senior Tory said “need to look at the way private prosecutions like these have been undertaken”.

The Post Office minister also told MPs that securing justice for the victims of the scandal and ensuring such a “tragedy” can never happen again is his “highest priority as a minister”.

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”.

But senior Tory David Davis urged the government to push for mass exonerations soon, using legislation if necessary. “All of the cases depend on one single lie,” the former minister told the BBC. “I see no real reason why you can’t have a mass case on that basis.”

Former justice secretary Robert Buckland also called for legislation to deal with all the cases together. “I think the government does have space in which it can make some moves here,” he said.

Sir Keir, 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. 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.

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, 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, was reported as saying: “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 social media 31 times to call for public figures to resign their positions since becoming Lib Dem leader in April 2019.

Responding on Monday, Sir Ed said that he had been lied to during the crucial period. “I wish I’d known then what we all know now – the Post Office was lying on an industrial scale to me and other ministers,” he told broadcasters.

The Lib Dem leader added: “We need to make sure their convictions are overturned, and we need to make sure they are fairly compensated.”

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”. But Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem leader, said Sir Ed was being made a “scapegoat” during an election year.

Reports suggest that, 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”.