An affront to humanity
MPs demand she forfeit honour over the hounding of innocent staff in IT scandal
THE woman who presided over the Post Office IT scandal should be stripped of her CBE, MPs said yesterday.
Their demand follows Friday’s dramatic Court of Appeal ruling in favour of 39 postmasters who were falsely branded criminals.
Paula Vennells, who earned £3.7million over six years as chief executive at the Post Office, yesterday quit the boards of supermarket chain Morrisons and homewares firm Dunelm. She had already stepped down from other roles but is holding on to her honour for ‘services to the Post Office and to charity’.
Labour MP Kevan Jones said: ‘She was head of the Post Office and oversaw this scandal, and yet ironically received a CBE for services to the Post Office. She should voluntarily give it up or have it withdrawn.’
Marion Fellows, the SNP MP who chairs the Post Office all-party parliamentary group, said: ‘There has been a devastating failure from Post Office Ltd during Paula Vennells’ chairmanship.
‘She should absolutely be stripped of any titles which recognise her contributions to the Post Office.’
Between 1999 and 2015 thousands of postmasters were accused of stealing from their own tills. In reality the ‘losses’ were caused by computer glitches on the Post Office’s Horizon system.
In its judgement, the Court of Appeal shamed the Post Office for hounding the accused and mounting a cover-up. It said the case was an ‘affront to the public conscience’.
MPs will today demand the Government launch a full inquiry. A string of ministers responsible for the stateowned company failed to act when postmasters were wrongly convicted.
Former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Vince Cable, business secretary between 2010 and 2015, claimed he was ‘not aware there was a problem’.
But Conservative peer Lord Arbuthnot, who has campaigned for postmasters for over a decade, said: ‘To suggest that ministers did not know anything about the unfolding Horizon scandal is clearly nonsense.’
Mrs Vennells joined the Post Office in 2007 as network director, and held the post of chief executive from 2012 to 2019. She said yesterday: ‘I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to the 39 sub-postmasters as a result of their convictions which were overturned last week. My involvement with the Post Office has become a distraction from the good work undertaken by the boards I serve. I have therefore stepped down with immediate effect from all of my board positions.’
The power to take away CBEs and other gongs rests with the secretive honours forfeiture committee – and ultimately the Queen. Grounds for forfeiture include a criminal conviction, misconduct or disreputable behaviour.
■ ANOTHER 38 postmasters with crown court convictions for theft or false accounting filed papers at the Appeal Court yesterday. On top of that, 13 with magistrates convictions have applied recently to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell said his firm plans to launch the next claims for compensation from the Post Office for malicious prosecution this week. He added that ‘very significant sums’ will be sought on behalf of clients.