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Disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE with immediate effect over her handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
The ex-chief executive has been under immense pressure to give up the honour given to her after stepping down in 2019.
It comes as the justice secretary revealed that Rishi Sunak’s government is “actively” considering an emergency bill to quash all Horizon scandal convictions at once.
Around 800 to 900 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Horizon accounting software, developed by Fujitsu, made it appear as though money was missing.
The renewed focus on the scandal comes after the recent ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, thrust the scandal back into the spotlight.
Paula Vennells has said she will return her CBE (Post Office/PA)
(PA Media)
A petition for Ms Vennells to hand back the CBE had reached over 1 million signatures, while several ministers had backed calls for her to do so.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Vennells said she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused” to staff and their families, and would be returning the CBE immediately having “listened” to calls from campaigners for the honouir to be removed.
She added: “I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.”
Former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton has said she is “glad” Ms Vennells was handing back the CBE. But she said it was a “shame it took just a million people to cripple her conscience”.
Ms Hamilton, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop in South Warnborough, Hampshire, said: “It shows the people have spoken – about everything really.”
“It’s not just about her CBE, it’s about how disgusting the whole thing is,” she added. “We’re all sick and tired of people taking money, being paid exorbitant amounts of money, and politicians taking absolutely no notice of you whatsoever… I think the people are just sick of it.”
Rishi Sunak considering emergency legislation to overturn convictions
(PA/EPA)
In a significant intervention, Mr Sunak said on Monday that he would “strongly support” the body that reviews honours if it decided to look at revoking the award.
A government source said Ms Vennells handing back her CBE was “the right thing to do”. Lord Arbuthnot, the campaigning peer who sits on the Horizon compensation advisory board, also said he was pleased.
The ITV drama tells the story of Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, who has spent two decades of his life fighting for justice after hundreds of fellow postmasters and postmistresses were accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to faulty computers.
In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes. Several people took their own lives due to the stress.
To this day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu employee has been held to account over the scandal, much less faced criminal investigation. Sixty of the victims have died before finding any justice at all.
Alan Bates had called for Paula Vennells to give up the CBE
(BBC Breakfast)
Mr Sunak’s ministers are in crunch talks with judges to expedite clearing their names. The PM is actively considering an emergency bill to quash all 800 Horizon IT scandal convictions at once, the justice secretary has said.
Alex Chalk told MPs that the government was now giving “active consideration” to legislation to overturn the convictions, adding: “I expect to be able to make further announcements shortly.”
It could see hundreds of former branch managers exonerated in one go – something both Tory MPs and Labour are pushing the government to do.
Ex-Tory justice secretary Robert Buckland has called for “exceptional” legislation to deal with all the cases together – saying MPs “can and should act” now to pass law because “we can’t wait anymore”.
MPs have also called for Fujitsu – the firm behind the faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as if money was missing from shops – to pay for compensating wronged Post Office staff.
No 10 said on Tuesday that Fujitsu will be “held accountable”, legally or financially, if the ongoing public inquiry finds it blundered in the Horizon scandal.
The flawed Horizon system, which led to the wrongful conviction of numerous sub-postmasters, was provided by Japan-based company Fujitsu
(PA Archive)
But the PM’s spokesman did not say the government would stop awarding contracts to the company if it was found to be at fault – saying only that companies’ conduct was “in general” would be considered as part of the procurement process.
The scale of the government’s involvement with Fujitsu is significant. Since 2012, the public sector as a whole has awarded the company almost 200 contracts worth a combined total of £6.8 billion, according to analysts Tussell.
Mr Sunak’s ministers are also looking at changing the rules around private prosecutions by the Post Office and other companies, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said earlier. It comes amid calls including from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to strip prosecution powers from the Post Office.
More than 100 new potential victims of the miscarriage of justice have been in touch with lawyers since the airing of an ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
Only 93 of somewhere between 700 to 900 convictions have so far been overturned so far, while just over 2,400 financial settlements have been made to staff affected. The public inquiry, led by retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, reopens on Thursday.
Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, said on Tuesday there was “new information coming in to us on a daily basis which may well be of interest to the inquiry”.
As well as Ms Vennells, Sir Ed Davey, postal minister in the crucial period between 2010 and 2012, has come under fire for his own handling of the scandal.
The Liberal Democrat leader has been accused of “fobbing off” victims of the scandal. Ex-postmasters have urged Sir Ed to “look in the mirror” and consider stepping down.
On Tuesday Sir Ed lashed out at “the people in the Post Office who were perpetrating this conspiracy of lies” in an interview with The Guardian.
And in a bid to turn the tables on the Tories, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said they “still need to explain” why Ms Vennells got a CBE and was able to keep a job as a director in the Cabinet Office after her involvement in the scandal was exposed.
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