Peston/ ITV
Ian Hislop took Sir Jake Berry to task over the Conservative’s response to the Post Office scandal.
After years of inaction on the matter, the Westminster machine kicked into action in the wake of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has left people outraged at the level of injustice suffered by those working in the profession.
Rishi Sunak announced a mass exoneration of subpostmasters wrongly convicted over faults with the Horizon computer system, while Fujitsu could have to repay a ‘fortune’ spent on the scandal. Paula Vennells, meanwhile, is set to return her CBE while Alan Bates is expected to be knighted.
Private Eye editor Hislop asked Sir Jake why the Conservative Party took “so long” to take action on the scandal during a heated debate on ITV’s Peston.
After Sir Jake suggested the government could take control of Post Office CEO’s tax-payer funded pensions and pass a piece of emergency legislation or parliamentary pardon, Hislop responded:
“But why couldn’t you do it so long ago? The fact that it takes an ITV drama and suddenly, having been told their entire campaigning lives ‘this is very difficult you’ll have to go in front of a judge, this is very, very, expensive’, to be told this morning, ‘oh it isn’t, tomorrow we’ll pass legislation and you’re all exonerated’.
“I mean, it is absolutely fatuous for this government to claim, ‘hey, we’re really acting now’.”
Watch the tense exchange below:
Related: The Real Horizon Scandal
