UKAnalysis

Sunak has a rare moment in the sun as he confronts Post Office scandal

Britain’s prime minister had to act decisively to quell public fury over issue in an election year

British prime minister Rishi Sunak: the scheme to exonerate the sub-postmasters is a political no-brainer. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

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Mark Paul London Correspondent
Wed Jan 10 2024 - 21:00

Finally for Rishi Sunak: a rare win. Britain’s prime minister seized the narrative in the Post Office scandal on Wednesday, announcing legislation to exonerate hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for cash shortfalls caused by an IT glitch. It will help to quell a national outcry over the issue which Sunak simply had to banish in an election year.

There are clear legal and moral risks in having politicians overturn on a “blanket basis” the convictions of sub-postmasters prosecuted for theft and fraud. The moral hazard is that an unknown number could actually be guilty – evidence won’t be assessed in individual cases. The legal hazard resides in the precedent of allowing legislators wade into the judicial process – those powers are meant to be kept separate, a near-sacred principle.

Yet whatever the legal and moral risks Sunak’s scheme to exonerate the sub-postmasters is a political no-brainer. It took public anger following a television dramatisation of the scandal for him to act, but he still appeared decisive on the issue at his first prime minister’s questions (PMQs) grilling of the new year.

He has proposed something that his political opponents will not dare to oppose. More importantly he has also done something very popular with the British public. Popularity is the drug all politicians crave. Sunak’s options for a fix have been limited in his 15 months in charge.

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While he appears safe from scrutiny over the Post Office scandal, others in Britain’s establishment have questions to answer. Stephen Flynn, the leader in the House of Commons of the Scottish National Party, nailed this point during PMQs. As Flynn said: “Tony Blair, a knight of the realm, ran the government when the Post Office brought in the dodgy software. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader and another knight of the realm, was the minister in charge of the Post Office when the scandal was at its height. And David Cameron, prime minister at the time, now “hides in the House of Lords as a baron”.

The ordinary postmasters “never stood a chance” against the British elite, Flynn said. It was an electric moment in an otherwise-subdued PMQs session.

Sunak had his moment in the sun with his intervention, but normal service resumed minutes later when he came under attack in the House of Commons over his Rwanda immigration legislation. That issue is expected to re-emerge next week to cloud his mood again.

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