Rishi Sunak has twice refused to repeat Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch‘s explosive declare {that a} former Post Office chief is mendacity about what the Government advised him to do.
The Prime Minister was challenged to endorse the extraordinary declare Ms Badenoch made about Henry Staunton on Monday. Mr Staunton was accused of a “blatant attempt to seek revenge” after claiming he’d been ordered to stall on compensation for postmasters together with Alan Bates.
At PMQs Keir Starmer requested if Mr Sunak was ready to repeat the allegation that Mr Staunton was mendacity. Mr Starmer additionally mentioned that an unearthed memo seems to “contradict” Ms Badenoch’s assertion and referred to as on the PM to analyze.
The PM stammered: “Mr Speaker, as the Business Secretary said on Monday, she asked Henry Staunton to step down after serious concerns were raised. She set out the reasons for this and the full background in the House earlier this week.” He went on to say ministers had been taking “unprecedented steps” to make sure victims of the Horizon scandal get compensation “as swiftly as possible and in full”.
Mr Starmer then challenged the PM over whether or not the Government did order the Post Office to “go slow” on compensation. Ms Badenoch has firmly denied this and mentioned no such instruction was ever issued.
But a observe launched by Mr Staunton suggests he was ordered to not ‘rip off the band help’ and mentioned now was not the time to “deal with long term issues”. Mr Starmer mentioned: “I appreciate that the Business Secretary has put the Prime Minister in a difficult position. But will he commit to investigating this matter properly, including whether that categorical statement was correct? And why, rather than taking those accusations seriously did she on Tuesday accuse a whistleblower of lying?”
Mr Sunak swerved the query, as an alternative stating: “This is a matter of substance, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history. Because people who were working hard, serving that can even had their lives and reputations destroyed.”
Mr Starmer mentioned that one of many options of the large miscarriage of justice is that “where concerns have been raised, they’ve been pushed to one side”. The PM faces a rising disaster after Ms Badenoch obtained locked in a bitter disagreement with the previous Post Office chief. Ms Badenoch accused him of not telling the reality, and No10 challenged him to supply proof to assist his declare.
Mr Staunton has now launched notes he fabricated from a gathering he had with the Business Department’s high civil servant in January final 12 months. The memo claims Sarah Munby warned him that “politicians do not necessarily like to confront reality” and that “now was not the time for dealing with long-term issues”.
He emailed the observe to himself and Post Office Chief Executive Nick Read on the time. Mr Staunton wrote that Ms Munby advised him she “understood the ‘huge commercial challenge’ and the ‘seriousness’ of the financial position”. He added: “She described ‘all the options as unattractive’. However, ‘politicians do not necessarily like to confront reality’.”
The observe, shared with The Times, continued: “She said we needed to know that in the run-up to the election there was no appetite to ‘rip off the band aid’. ‘Now was not the time for dealing with long-term issues.’ We needed a plan to ‘hobble’ up to the election.”
The memo doesn’t particularly point out compensation funds to postmasters caught up within the Horizon IT scandal. But Mr Staunton mentioned that compensation to postmasters and changing the Horizon system had been the 2 largest areas the place financial savings could possibly be made. The newest improvement comes after Ms Badenoch advised MPs there was “no evidence whatsoever” of his story and mentioned it was “a blatant attempt to seek revenge” for dropping his job.