Sunak would ‘strongly help’ evaluate into revoking CBE of former Post Office boss Paula Vennells
Rishi Sunak intervened within the Post Office honours row by saying he would “strongly support” a evaluate into whether or not Paula Vennells needs to be stripped of her CBE.
The comment, delivered by the Prime Minister’s official spokesman on Monday, piles strain on the Honours Forfeiture Committee to formally contemplate eradicating the honour.
Ms Vennells was the chief govt of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019. A petition for her to lose her CBE has now been signed by multiple million folks.
Downing Street’s assertion got here after The Telegraph revealed that two Cabinet ministers have been privately calling for Ms Vennells to lose her honour, acquired in 2019, over the Horizon IT scandal.
In 2012, Lord Cameron, then prime minister, urged the committee to contemplate stripping former RBS boss Fred Goodwin of his knighthood. Within a fortnight that had taken place.
Last evening, Kevan Jones, the Labour MP and member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, wrote to the committee to induce it to have a look at Ms Vennells’s honour.
‘Presided over failings’
In a letter seen by The Telegraph, Mr Jones tells Sir Chris Wormald, who chairs the committee, that Ms Vennells “presided over failings” linked to the Horizon IT scandal.
Mr Jones advised The Telegraph: “She was given the honour for services to the Post Office, which for many of the campaigners is a little ironic as it ended up with some of them in jail and having their lives ruined.
“The honours should either be taken away or if she had any decency she would give it up.”
Labour’s entrance bench added its personal strain, with Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow enterprise secretary, saying honours removals for Post Office leaders needs to be thought of if their proof given to the general public inquiry is discovered wanting.
Meanwhile. Gwyneth Hughes, the author of ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, questioned why Ms Vennells had accepted the CBE within the first place.
More than 700 sub-postmasters have been convicted between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon, a defective accounting system designed by Fujitsu and made by the Post Office, made it appear as if cash was lacking from their companies.
Ms Vennells has beforehand apologised for what occurred, and stated 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.”
Asked in regards to the petition, Mr Sunak’s official spokesman advised reporters: “The Prime Minister shares the public’s strength and feeling of outrage on this issue.
“He would strongly support the forfeiture committee if it chose to review the case. You will know it is a decision for the committee, rather than from the Government. He would strongly support it if they chose to do that.”
The committee exists to contemplate circumstances the place a person who has been honoured is judged to have introduced the honours system into disrepute.
‘Were they asleep at the wheel?’
The Horizon scandal has acquired political recent consideration after Mr Bates vs the Post Office, a drama telling the story of victims’ years-long marketing campaign for justice, aired on ITV final week.
Mr Jones has written beforehand to the committee about Ms Vennells’s honour however was advised in 2022 that the problem would solely be checked out after the general public inquiry ended.
He desires the problem to be handled now. “I’m not sure what more evidence is needed to be put in the public domain that isn’t already out there,” he stated.
Ms Hughes, the author behind the ITV drama that has put the scandal again within the headlines, stated: “Here is what I think is most interesting. Paula was offered and accepted her CBE at a point when it was already clear to anyone paying attention that something had gone badly wrong in the organisation she led.
“So what on earth was going on? Were the Honours people asleep at the wheel when they made the offer? Even more intriguingly, when Paula accepted it, what was she thinking? I’m wondering, was she in denial?”
Source: telegraph.co.uk
