Rishi Sunak gathers Cabinet to bring ‘faster justice’ for Post Office victims as Alan Johnson says Fujitsu should pay up

9 January 2024, 10:25 | Updated: 9 January 2024, 10:48

Rishi Sunak gathered his Cabinet today to try and find a way to clear Post Office scandal victims
Rishi Sunak gathered his Cabinet today to try and find a way to clear Post Office scandal victims. Picture: Alamy

By Asher McShane

Former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson has told LBC that he would rather see the courts, not parliament, overturn convictions in the Post Office scandal because of the "precedent it sets”.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Speaking to Nick Ferrari this morning, Mr Johnson also called for Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon accounting software, to pay compensations to victims.

He said the firm should “without a doubt” be responsible for paying up. “This is the fault of the Horizon system. It has to be Fujitsu,” he added.

It comes as Rishi Sunak gathered his Cabinet to hammer out a plan to clear Post Office scandal victims.

Ministers have been holding talks with judges, and Fujitsu has been warned it could face huge compensation bill.

The Government is considering ways to overturn the convictions, including possible legislation.

But some of the wronged subpostmasters want to have their names cleared in the courts and the Post Office held to account, rather than through legislation.

Alan Johnson on the courts overturning

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is also 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.

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 launch.

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."

Read more: Sunak backs review into ex-Post Office boss' CBE as petition calling for her to be stripped of honour passes 1m

Read more: Andy Burnham calls for Post Office to lose prosecution power after Horizon Scandal as he slams 'pattern of injustice'

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.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Breaking
Simone White has died following a poisoning with alcoholic drinks at a bar in Loas

British lawyer, 28, dies following suspected mass methanol poisoning at bar in Laos

Breaking
Russia has claimed that Britain is directly involved in the war in Ukraine

Britain now 'directly involved in war in Ukraine', Russian ambassador to UK says

Finlay MacDonald is accused of trying to murder his wife Rowena

Jealous husband 'murdered brother-in-law and tried to kill wife' after finding text saying she planned to leave him

Teenager jailed for least 22 years after fatally stabbing motorbike enthusiast who named attacker in dying breath

Teenager jailed for at least 22 years after fatally stabbing motorbike enthusiast who named attacker in dying breath

Pie fortune heir Dylan Thomas, 24, has been found guilty of murdering his best friend William Bush (R)

Heir to £230m pie fortune found guilty of murdering his best friend on Christmas Eve

Matt Hancock giving evidence at the Covid 19 inquiry

Matt Hancock says government 'got it wrong' with funeral restrictions and visiting dying relatives during pandemic

Body parts - inlcuding arms, legs and a head - belonging to 38-year-old Sarah Mayhew were found in Rowdown Fields in Croydon

Couple facing life in prison after admitting murdering woman and dumping dismembered body parts

'But where are the hams?': Police launch manhunt after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

Police hunt Spanish hamburglars after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

The new advert was published this week.

Rebranded Jaguar sparks further backlash after teasing new car model akin to ‘Tesla Cybertruck’

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year

Arrest warrants issued for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister and Hamas chief over 'war crimes'

Matt Hancock giving evidence at the Covid 19 inquiry

Matt Hancock tells Covid inquiry government did 'everything we possibly could' during pandemic

Matt Hancock was booed as he arrived to testify at the Covid-19 inquiry

Matt Hancock booed as he arrives to give evidence at Covid inquiry

Four days of weather alerts are in place for the arrival of Storm Bert

Storm Bert set to bring snow, blizzards and downpours as four days of weather warnings issued

Kyiv says Russia has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in an attack on Ukraine

Russia's revenge: Moscow 'launches intercontinental ballistic missile’ in attack on Ukraine

Hannah Ingram-Moore and Captain Tom

Who is Hannah Ingram-Moore? Captain Tom's 'leading businesswomen daughter'

The "Prescott Punch" is one of the most iconic moments in modern British political history

Infamous moment John Prescott punches protester who threw egg at him