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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Chris Mason: A TV drama may help deliver change for sub-postmasters | Chris Mason: A TV drama may help deliver change for sub-postmasters |
| (25 days later) | |
| The only sub-postmasters to have had their convictions overturned so far seen celebrating outside the Royal Courts of Justice | The only sub-postmasters to have had their convictions overturned so far seen celebrating outside the Royal Courts of Justice |
| Years of headlines about it. | Years of headlines about it. |
| More than two decades of injustice. | More than two decades of injustice. |
| But it is a Christmas holiday TV drama that has catapulted the plight of hundreds of sub-postmasters to the top of the political agenda. | But it is a Christmas holiday TV drama that has catapulted the plight of hundreds of sub-postmasters to the top of the political agenda. |
| More than that, it has accelerated the likely timeline for significant change. | More than that, it has accelerated the likely timeline for significant change. |
| The government is now saying publicly it hopes that as soon as later this week it can bring forward a plan. | The government is now saying publicly it hopes that as soon as later this week it can bring forward a plan. |
| An idea that is being explored is passing a new law that would exonerate the hundreds of sub-postmasters desperate to clear their names. | An idea that is being explored is passing a new law that would exonerate the hundreds of sub-postmasters desperate to clear their names. |
| Senior folk I speak to in government fret about two elements of this idea: firstly, intervening in the judicial process isn't what MPs are conventionally meant to do. | Senior folk I speak to in government fret about two elements of this idea: firstly, intervening in the judicial process isn't what MPs are conventionally meant to do. |
| Secondly, they worry about it creating a hostage to fortune; an unintended consequence for a future, currently unforeseen separate issue. | Secondly, they worry about it creating a hostage to fortune; an unintended consequence for a future, currently unforeseen separate issue. |
| But there is a growing feeling that the public mood, prompted by the drama, leaves those in government with no alternative but to act, be seen to act, and to do so quickly. | But there is a growing feeling that the public mood, prompted by the drama, leaves those in government with no alternative but to act, be seen to act, and to do so quickly. |
| Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted? | Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted? |
| Ministers vow to speed up justice for Post Office victims | Ministers vow to speed up justice for Post Office victims |
| Sunak must get cracking on scandal, says ex-postmaster | Sunak must get cracking on scandal, says ex-postmaster |
| And so government lawyers have been exploring the possibility of carefully written, very specific legislation to specifically address the Post Office scandal, and nothing else. | And so government lawyers have been exploring the possibility of carefully written, very specific legislation to specifically address the Post Office scandal, and nothing else. |
| Significantly, two former justice secretaries, the Conservative Sir Robert Buckland, in a letter to The Times, and Labour's Lord Falconer, talking to the BBC, have said a new law is needed and would command widespread support. | Significantly, two former justice secretaries, the Conservative Sir Robert Buckland, in a letter to The Times, and Labour's Lord Falconer, talking to the BBC, have said a new law is needed and would command widespread support. |
| The current Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, is examining the practicalities and legal niceties of what is possible. | The current Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, is examining the practicalities and legal niceties of what is possible. |
| Meanwhile, the breadth and longevity of the decades-long failures over all this mean plenty of people face plenty of questions. | Meanwhile, the breadth and longevity of the decades-long failures over all this mean plenty of people face plenty of questions. |
| Will Mellor as Lee and Amy Nuttall as Lisa in Mr Bates vs the Post Office TV Show | Will Mellor as Lee and Amy Nuttall as Lisa in Mr Bates vs the Post Office TV Show |
| For Fujitsu, the Japanese company that built the computer program, Horizon, at the heart of the scandal. | For Fujitsu, the Japanese company that built the computer program, Horizon, at the heart of the scandal. |
| For the Post Office's chief executives during the period: John Roberts, Adam Crozier, Moya Greene and Paula Vennells, who was the Post Office's Chief Executive from 2012 to 2019. | For the Post Office's chief executives during the period: John Roberts, Adam Crozier, Moya Greene and Paula Vennells, who was the Post Office's Chief Executive from 2012 to 2019. |
| Over a million people are demanding, in a petition, that Ms Vennells is stripped of her CBE. | Over a million people are demanding, in a petition, that Ms Vennells is stripped of her CBE. |
| Plenty of MPs, from the prime minister down, are sympathetic. | Plenty of MPs, from the prime minister down, are sympathetic. |
| Ms Vennells has said she is 'truly sorry' for the suffering caused by the Post Office - which, we should remember - the government owns outright. | Ms Vennells has said she is 'truly sorry' for the suffering caused by the Post Office - which, we should remember - the government owns outright. |
| And for the former ministers, some Labour, some Liberal Democrat and some Conservative, responsible for the Post Office since 1999, when this can all be traced back to. | And for the former ministers, some Labour, some Liberal Democrat and some Conservative, responsible for the Post Office since 1999, when this can all be traced back to. |
| Sir Ed Davey is one of them, a postal affairs minister during the coalition government, now the Liberal Democrat leader, facing intense scrutiny in a general election year. | Sir Ed Davey is one of them, a postal affairs minister during the coalition government, now the Liberal Democrat leader, facing intense scrutiny in a general election year. |
| Those questions will continue, but there now appears to be a momentum around change, and trying to deliver it quickly. | Those questions will continue, but there now appears to be a momentum around change, and trying to deliver it quickly. |
| After all these years, hundreds of sub-postmasters are watching, waiting and hoping that - finally - justice might be getting closer. | After all these years, hundreds of sub-postmasters are watching, waiting and hoping that - finally - justice might be getting closer. |