A petition calling for former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE surpassed 500,000 signatures on Thursday night following the final episode of an ITV1 drama about the sub-postmasters scandal.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office looks at the scandal that resulted in more than 700 Royal Mail staff being sued between 2000 and 2014 based on false information on the service’s computer system. Deputy postmasters and assistant postmasters were falsely accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting; some of these were later convicted and imprisoned.
Vennells, who was Royal Mail chief executive from 2012 to 2019, routinely denied there were problems with the Horizon IT system while he oversaw the organisation. He was awarded a CBE in the 2019 new year honors list “for services to the Post Office and charities”. He said he was “truly sorry for the pain felt” after the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of 39 employees who were victims of bugs in the service’s Horizon software made by Fujitsu in 2021.
The Post Office reached an agreement with 555 workers in 2019, but some died before receiving justice. So far, approximately 90 convictions have been overturned and compensation payments have been made; An independent public legal inquiry will continue this year.
An online petition calling for Vennells’ title to be stripped was started three years ago and received little attention at the time. But signings soared after the ITV show went live, surpassing the 300,000 mark after the show’s final episode on Thursday night. As of Friday morning, the total was over 350,000 and was continuing to rise rapidly through the afternoon; By 19:00 on Friday it was 540,000.
“Having been awarded a CBE for post office services and moved on to other senior positions in government and the health service, it is right that this award should now be withdrawn through the confiscation process,” the petition on the 38 Degree website said. , says.
In a definitive ruling on the Horizon issues in December 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the original Horizon system was not robust enough and contained a number of bugs and errors. In his judgment, Mr Justice Fraser said the Post Office’s approach “demonstrates simple institutional stubbornness or a refusal to consider possible alternatives to the Horizon views, which are maintained regardless of the weight of actual evidence to the contrary”.
He added: “This approach by the Post Office amounts to bald assertions and denials that ignore what actually happened, at least in terms of the witnesses called before me in the Horizon Issues case. The 21st century equivalent of arguing that the earth is flat.”
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Since ITV aired his show, there have been calls for Vennells to hand back the CBE, including from Kevin Hollinrake, the business secretary whose work includes the postal service. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Ultimately you are responsible for what happens here, you are the chief executive, if I were Paula Vennells I would seriously consider voluntarily giving it back at this point.”
Meanwhile, Welsh sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who is at the heart of ITV’s drama, has revealed how he turned down the OBE because it didn’t feel right to accept it while Vennells still held the title. He told BBC Breakfast: “If I had agreed I would have done so on behalf of the whole group, but it would really have been a slap in the face to accept it when Paula Vennells was still attached to the CBE for Post Office services. I would understand it was done to damage the Post Office.”
While this is perhaps not as symbolic as losing the title, the Post Office’s current boss has said he will refund any bonus payments he made in connection with the Horizon investigation. Nick Read has again apologized for “procedural and administrative errors” in linking significant bonus payments to work related to the investigation.
He said he would return that part of the £455,000 bonus he received in 2021/22, which is understood to be £54,400.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer refuse to support calls for Vennells to lose CBE
Rishi Sunak commented on the scandal on Thursday, adding that the government had no role in potentially stripping Vennells of his CBE. The Prime Minister said it was an independent process carried out by the Dishonor Committee, which is separate from the government.
He added: “But more generally my job is to make sure that we put in place compensation schemes and that all people who have been mistreated, who have been subjected to a terrible miscarriage of justice, get the justice they deserve. “I’m glad we’ve got this done and I’m confident that everyone who’s been affected can come forward and benefit from these schemes.” I invite you to be.”
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer also refrained from calling on Vennells to hand back his CBE. He told ITV News: “It’s really a matter for him whether he returns the award or not. But I think there’s a more important point here in many ways, which is that compensation for these victims is due. It was due in December. The Treasury… We put the money aside but the Government didn’t pay it.”
“So I say to the Government, do the right thing and compensate the victims of this miscarriage.”
Watch: Wrongly convicted deputy postmaster says Paula Vennells ‘destroyed a great institution’
ITV drama ‘brings it all back’
Those affected by the scandal expressed the emotion created by the broadcast of the series and that it revived difficult memories.
Pam Stubbs, who runs Barkham’s Post Office in Berkshire and is portrayed in the series, said watching the series brought her to tears. He told the Bracknell News: “I’ve already watched it at a preview and I burst into tears at the end. It wasn’t easy watching it at home. It’s a tough watch.”
He added: “A few people in the village told me they were finding it so difficult they had to close. They said it was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Deirdre Connolly said the series “brings it all back” and told the BBC: “It’s been very, very difficult for a lot of people.” Connolly has previously told how he was told to plead guilty and forced to repay a discrepancy of more than £15,000 he did not owe, his family had to remortgage their home and he was declared bankrupt.
Stating that his health had deteriorated and that he now suffers from epilepsy, which he believes was due to stress, he told the BBC: “The stigma of it all was terrible. My life will never be the same.”