Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is under pressure over his handling of the Post Office scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted due to faulty IT software.
Sir Ed’s actions as minister for the Post Office during the Lib Dem coalition with the Conservatives have come under fire.
In May 2010, Sir Ed refused to meet Alan Bates, the sub-postmaster who led the campaign to expose the Horizon scandal.
At the time he said he did not believe it “would serve any purpose” but has now said he was “deeply misled by Post Office executives”.
Tory MP Paul Scully has accused him of “airbrushing his actions”, telling The Sun: “The job of a minister is to probe and get action; basically what he would have expected of a minister had he approached one on behalf of a constituent.”
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He continued: “He’s one of several people in power that have failed the hundreds of postmasters affected by the biggest miscarriage of justice in British court history.
“Sir Ed flunked his first test of leadership. The Post office clearly misled plenty of people but being a minister is not just picking up a ministerial car or an entourage for a while, before airbrushing his actions a decade later.”
Dudley North MP Marco Longhi also hit out at Sir Ed, telling Express.co.uk that his credibility is now “hanging by a thread”.
The scandal has been forced back into the spotlight following the airing of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office this week.
In a letter to Mr Bates in 2010, Sir Ed said the Government had an “arms-length relationship” with the Post Office, so it had “the commercial freedom to run its business operations without interference”.
He added: “The integrity of the Post Office Horizon system is an operational and contractual matter for POL [Post Office Ltd], whilst I do appreciate your concerns… I do not believe a meeting would serve any useful purpose.”
Records show he did later meet with Mr Bates in October 2010.
A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “Ed bitterly regrets that the Post Office was not honest with him at the time.
“His heart goes out to the families caught up in this scandal and his focus is now on getting justice and compensation for those impacted.”
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