Rishi Sunak has refused to repeat Kemi Badenoch’s declare that the previous Post Office boss was mendacity when he mentioned he was advised to delay compensation to Horizon scandal victims.
Sir Keir Starmer requested the prime minister if he’s ready to personally repeat the allegation made by his enterprise secretary relating to Henry Staunton.
Mr Staunton, who was sacked final month, has claimed he was advised to stall pay-outs to sub-postmasters on account of monetary considerations forward of the final election – one thing Ms Badenoch has strongly denied.
Mr Sunak didn’t reply the Labour chief’s query instantly, merely saying Mr Staunton was fired due to “serious concerns” about his conduct.
He added: “We have taken up steps to ensure victims of the Horizon scandal receive compensation as swiftly as possible… that remains our priority.”
Sir Keir, talking at PMQs, pressed him on Ms Badenoch’s assertion on Monday that Mr Staunton was “at no point told to delay compensation payments by either an official or a minister from any government department; at no point was it suggested that a delay would be a benefit to the Treasury.”
Asked if he’ll examine if that assertion is appropriate, the prime minister repeated that Mr Staunton was requested to step down “after serious concerns were raised”.
The trade comes after an unearthed memo from Mr Staunton which raises questions on Ms Badenoch’s claims.
It has emerged that Mr Staunton wrote a be aware on 5 January final yr which mentioned that Sarah Munby, the then everlasting secretary on the enterprise division, had warned him throughout a gathering that day to not “rip off the band aid” when it comes to authorities funds within the run as much as the election.
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According to the be aware, seen by Sky News, Mr Staunton mentioned that the Post Office board had recognized a monetary shortfall of £160m as of September 2022 and that “there was a likelihood of a significant reduction in post offices” if extra authorities funding was not made accessible.
He wrote: “Sarah was sympathetic to all of the above. She understood the ‘huge commercial challenge’ and the ‘seriousness’ of the financial position. She described ‘all the options as unattractive’. However, ‘politicians do not necessarily like to confront reality’. This particularly applied when there was no obvious ‘route to profitability’.
“She mentioned we would have liked to know that within the run-up to the election there was no urge for food to ‘rip off the band support’. ‘Now was not the time for coping with long-term points.’ We wanted a plan to ‘hobble’ as much as the election.”
Labour MP Liam Byrne, who’s chair of parliament’s Business Committee, mentioned the be aware is “a go slow order, without a doubt”. He mentioned his committee will try and “flush out the truth” on Tuesday, when Mr Staunton will seem earlier than MPs.
The be aware has sparked calls for from the Lib Dems for Mr Sunak’s ethics adviser to analyze whether or not Ms Badenoch misled parliament along with her accusation that Mr Staunton was mendacity.
Labour mentioned there must be a cupboard workplace investigation to ascertain the veracity of Mr Staunton’s claims.
Row over disputed memo
Earlier, a authorities supply was dismissive of the memo and steered Mr Staunton was both “confused or deliberately mixing up” long-standing points round Post Office funds with the payouts to wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters.
They added: “Even if we trust the veracity of a memo he wrote himself, and there’s not much to suggest we can, given the false accusations he made about the Secretary of State in his original interview, it’s time for Henry Staunton to admit his interview on Sunday was a misrepresentation of his conversations with ministers and officials and to apologise to the government and the postmasters.”
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In his authentic interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Staunton claimed that he was ordered by a senior civil servant to stall spending on compensation for Horizon victims to permit the federal government to “limp into the election”.
He mentioned it “was not an anti-postmaster thing, it was just straight financials”.
He additionally claimed that when he was sacked he was advised somebody needed to “take the rap” for the Horizon scandal, which got here underneath renewed public scrutiny following the ITV drama collection Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
Mr Staunton has stood by his claims within the face of presidency denials, insisting that there was “no real movement” on the payouts till the airing of the ITV drama.
On Monday, Ms Badenoch mentioned the claims are “completely false” and accused Mr Staunton of in search of “revenge” after he was sacked.
She additionally claimed he was being investigated over bullying allegations earlier than he was dismissed from his short-lived submit – one thing he has denied.
He has mentioned he determined to go public “out of a desire to ensure that the public were fully aware of the facts surrounding the multiple failures that have led to postmasters in this country being badly let down”.
The Horizon scandal noticed tons of of sub-postmasters prosecuted due to discrepancies within the Fujitsu-developed IT system between 1999 and 2015, in what has been referred to as the largest miscarriage of justice in UK historical past.
Source: information.sky.com”