Former Post Office boss clings to CBE as plans drawn up to fast-track appeals for wrongly convicted postmasters
9 January 2024, 00:18 | Updated: 9 January 2024, 00:25
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is facing calls to be stripped of her CBE over the Horizon scandal as plans are drawn up to fast-track appeals for wrongly convicted postmasters.
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A petition calling for the ex-Post Office boss to be stripped of her CBE garnered more than one million signatures just a week after launching.
Ms Vennells was awarded the CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services to the "Post Office and to charity”.
But there has been mounting pressure for it to be revoked after ITV aired Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which dramatised the Horizon scandal.
Ministers are now drawing up plans to fast-track appeals for postmasters that were wrongly convicted.
Kevin Hollinrake, the postal affairs minister, told the Commons that “options” had been devised to resolve outstanding criminal convictions “much more quickly”.
“We believe we have a solution,” he told MPs, with a further update expected later in the week.
Mr Hollinrake vowed to "leave no stone unturned" amid the growing pressure to quash the convictions and speed up the awarding of compensation to those affected by the IT system error.
"We have devised some options for resolving the outstanding criminal convictions with much more pace," the minister said.
"While the scale of the problem is immense, the Government is unwavering in its resolve to tackle it, to compensate those affected and to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice."
Former Justice Secretary says UK Honours Committee must review Paula Vennells' CBE
It comes after Rishi Sunak said he would "strongly support" the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it decided to review Ms Vennells’ CBE following the scandal.
An official spokesman for Mr Sunak said: “It is a decision for them [the committee] to take, he would strongly support them if they look into it.”
Mr Hollinrake also said it is "perfectly reasonable" to ask the former Post Office boss to hand back her CBE.
He suggested that Fujitsu, the firm behind the faulty accounting software that made it look like money was missing from shops, and anyone else shown to be responsible should be "held accountable including making any payments" into the compensation fund.
The Horizon scandal came about after more than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on the faulty software.
Further claims have since emerged that the Post Office could have wrongly prosecuted dozens more operators due to the Horizon system.
Tory MP disputes claims the government 'has done nothing until now' regarding Horizon scandal
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who was previously postal affairs minister, accused the Post Office on Monday of lying to him on an "industrial scale" over the scandal.
He has been facing fresh scrutiny over his role in the coalition government.
Sir Ed told broadcasters: "I wish I had known then what we all know now, the Post Office was lying on an industrial scale to me and other ministers."
He said it was "clear they were all lying to me" as he put the concerns of campaigning former subpostmaster Alan Bates to officials.
"My heart goes out to all those people, we need to make sure their convictions are overturned and we need to make sure they are fairly compensated, and quickly," he said.
