Did Rishi Sunak throw Kemi Badenoch under the bus in escalating Post Office row?

Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak has refused to repeat Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the former Post Office boss was lying when he said he was told to delay compensation to Horizon scandal victims.

In a furious Commons clash, Sir Keir Starmer demanded a Cabinet Office probe into a furious row between the Business Secretary and Henry Staunton.

Mr Staunton, who was sacked last month, has claimed he was told to stall compensation payouts to postmasters in order to help the Tories ahead of the general election.

But Mrs Badenoch has angrily accused him of lying and spreading “made-up anecdotes” after she fired him as head of the Post Office last month.

Post Office sign

Sir Keir seized on Mr Staunton’s claims as he challenged Mr Sunak to repeat the allegation that Mr Staunton was lying during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

Mr Sunak refused to repeat Mrs Badenoch’s claim about Mr Staunton, but highlighted how the Business Secretary asked him to quit the Post Office amid concerns about “bullying”.

The PM added: “She asked Henry Staunton to step down after serious concerns were raised. She set out the reasons for this and the full background in the House earlier this week.

“But importantly we have also taken unprecedented steps to ensure that victims of the Horizon scandal do receive compensation as swiftly as possible and in full.”

Sir Keir pressed Mr Sunak on fresh claims by Mr Staunton that he was told by a top civil servant to “hobble” into the election on the issue of postmasters’ compensation.

The Labour leader said a bombshell memo released by the former Post Office chairman “appears to directly contradict” the Government’s insistence it never ordered a delay to compensation payments.

Mr Sunak said the ongoing independent inquiry into the Post Office scandal can access “all the documentation it requires.”

The PM vowed the Government is focused on ensuring victims get the “justice and compensation that they deserve”.

Sir Keir’s attacks sparked accusations Labour is deliberately trying to bring down the popular Tory minister, with ally Tom Hunt MP warning she “isn’t someone to be messed with. I’d be careful if I were them”.

Lee Anderson accused Sir Keir and Labour of “obviously running scared of Kemi, just as they were with Suella”.

He added: “It’s obvious to me that Labour have a real problem with influential women in Parliament”.

“What I want to know is why are Labour intent on attacking female politicians in our party.”

Another Kemi Badenoch ally accused Labour MPs of “going after the black woman instead of the old white guy at the centre of this [Henry Staunton], who had bullying allegations hanging over him”.

Andrew Lewer, who supported Ms Badenoch’s summer 2022 leadership run, added: “Of course Labour are attacking Kemi. She is a brilliant Secretary of State and stands for many of the traditional values that they despise”.

Red Wall MP Marco Longhi said that Sir Keir Starmer’s attacks on Ms Badenoch shows he is “bereft” of any leadership instincts on the Post Office scandal.

“As a former DPP he would surely want for due process to be followed in all cases, so to attack her so much suggests that he either doesn’t like female MPs who stand their ground, or that he is scared of her.”

Mr Staunton, who was Post Office chairman between December 2022 and last month, last night revealed how he was told not to ‘rip off the band aid’ in terms of finances by a top civil servant.

Sarah Munby, who was then permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is claimed to have warned Mr Staunton that “now was not the time for dealing with long-term issues”.

In her first meeting with Mr Staunton on January 5 last year, she is also said to have told him that “politicians do not necessarily like to confront reality” and suggested they come up with a plan to “hobble” up to the general election.

The bombshell claims are included in a contemporaneous note of the meeting made by Mr Staunton.

The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

A public inquiry into what has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history is ongoing.

Anger at the treatment of subpostmasters grew after an ITV drama returned the issue to the spotlight, which prompted the Government to last month promise a new law so those wrongly convicted are “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.