Sunak would ‘strongly’ back review of ex-Post Office chief’s CBE amid calls for mass exonerations – latest

The public inquiry into the scandal has uncovered dozens of covert recordings of senior Post Office staff – including former CEO Paula Vennells – discussing the scandal, according to The Times, Adam Forrest reports.

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.

Ms Vennells has reportedly hired the top legal firm Mishcon de Reya to represent her as she prepares to give evidence at the public inquiry later this year.

She said in 2022 that she was “truly sorry for the suffering caused to wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters and their families”.

Nigel Farage said Sir Keir Starmer should explain why he did not intervene in the Horizon IT scandal while he was director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, Adam Forrest reports.

“He has serious questions to answer,” the ex-Brexit Party leader tweeted on X.

The CPS was not in charge of any of the appeals which have been launched since the scandal first broke. Sir Keir has today called for prosecutions to be “taken out of the hands” of the Post Office and be given to the CPS.

Ed Davey is being made a “scapegoat” for the Post Office scandal, his former colleague and party leader Vince Cable has claimed.

Mr Davey has been accused by Conservatives of not asking the “right questions” during his stint as Post Office minister in the early years of the coalition government.

He has denied any wrongdoing, saying Post Office bosses lied to him on an “industrial scale”.

“This is election year and it’s quite good for somebody to try to make a scapegoat of a Lib Dem,” Mr Cable told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.

The prime minister visited workers at the VEKA factory, a PVC window system manufacturer, in Burnley on Monday 8 January, to tell them about the tax cuts.

Mr Sunak explained how the new cut to the rate of national insurance, means that someone on an average salary of £35,000 a year will get a £450 tax cut.

One worker responded by saying “Lovely”, which was met with a round of laughter by other workers.

Rishi Sunak has declined to give his backing to the Conservative Party’s candidate in the Wellingborough byelection.

Helen Harrison will stand in the Northamptonshire constituency after Peter Bone, her partner, was ousted in a recall petition after he indecently exposed himself to a staff member who he trapped in the bathroom of a hotel room.

“Candidate selection is done locally, so local members in their area can choose a given candidate,” the prime minister told an event in Lancashire earlier.

“That’s how It works in our party. We believe in empowering people locally that’s how we do it.”

The SNP and the Tories will resort to “dirty tricks” to cling to power at Holyrood and Westminster, Anas Sarwar warned, as he urged independence supporters north of the border to back his party in the upcoming general election and help with “booting out the Tories” from Downing Street.

Mr Sarwar, however, insisted that that was “just the first step” for his party as he set his sights on recapturing power at Holyrood in the 2026 Scottish parliament elections.

Sunak would ‘strongly’ back review of ex-Post Office chief’s CBE over Horizon scandal

Rishi Sunak would “strongly support” the body which reviews honours if it decided to look at revoking former Post Office boss Paula Vennells’ CBE in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

There have been growing calls grow for the former Post Office chief executive to hand back her CBE after an ITV drama returned the widespread miscarriage of justice to the spotlight.

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

A petition addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the committee, calling for Ms Vennells to lose her honour has already attracted more than one million signatures.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk is meeting Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake on Monday to discuss how to help the convicted branch managers clear their names.

Mr Chalk will make a statement in the Commons later.

Jess Kaur was one of the subpostmistresses who was caught up in the Horizon IT scandal that hit Post Offices. Her story has been portrayed in ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Monday (8 January), Ms Kaur said: “It drove me so mad that I tried to commit suicide.”

Richard Madeley said: “You ended up in hospital.”

Ms Kaur then became visibly emotional as she spoke of what she went through.

The presenter was forced to step in and ask her: “Are you alright?”

You can watch the clip here: