![\"The](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/10211\/production\/_132256066_1f57e93bedebbbcfaac4dc1254f46adcd82d29ac0_0_3000_20001000x667.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/span>PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nYears of headlines about it. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n More than two decades of injustice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n More than that, it has accelerated the likely timeline for significant change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The government is now saying publicly it hopes that as soon as later this week it can bring forward a plan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n An idea that is being explored is passing a new law that would exonerate the hundreds of sub postmasters desperate to clear their name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Secondly, they worry about it creating a hostage to fortune; an unintended consequence for a future, currently unforeseen separate issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The current Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, is examining the practicalities and legal niceties of what is possible. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile, the breadth and longevity of the decades-long failures over all this mean plenty of people face plenty of questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/span>ITV \/ Shutterstock<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n For Fujitsu, the Japanese company that build the computer program, Horizon, at the heart of all this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For the Post Office’s chief executives during all this: John Roberts, Adam Crozier, Moya Greene and Paula Vennells, who was the Post Office’s Chief Executive from 2012 to 2019. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over a million people are demanding, in a petition, that she is stripped of her CBE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Plenty of MPs, from the prime minister down, are sympathetic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms Vennells has said she is ‘truly sorry’ for the suffering caused by the Post Office – which, we should remember – the government owns outright.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Those questions will continue, but there now appears to be a momentum around change, and trying to deliver it quickly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After all these years, hundreds of sub-postmasters are watching, waiting and hoping that – finally – justice might be getting closer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Post Office victims promised faster justice<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n PM would back committee in Post Office honour probe<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Call for mass appeal to quash Post Office convictions<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Published at Tue, 09 Jan 2024 02:40:23 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Mason: A TV drama may help deliver change for sub-postmasters PA Media By Chris Mason Political editor, BBC News Years of headlines about it. 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… Continue reading Chris Mason: A TV drama may help deliver change for sub-postmasters<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-politics","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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