Kevin Hollinrake, minister for postal services, says he welcomed the decision by former Post Office boss to hand back her CBE
Good morning. Kevin Hollinrake, a minister in the department for business, has been doing a morning interview round this morning. Normally when a junior minister does the morning interview round they end up being asked topics about which they know not much more than you or me, but today the interviews were a bit more illuminating than normal. Hollinrake is minister for postal services, and so he is well briefed on the story of the day, but he is also an MP who was taking an interest in the Post Office Horizon scandal even before he joined the government.
Rishi Sunak is taking PMQs at noon and, after Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, told MPs yesterday that an announcement about a possible move to quash all the unsafe Post Office convictions in one go might be coming soon, there is intense speculation that Sunak will unveil the news in the chamber. Prime ministers always like to be identified with “good” government announcements, and having a “story” like this up your sleeve is a very useful defence mechanism at PMQs. In his interviews Hollinrake did not confirm that the announcement would come today, but he said it was “very, very close”.
Not true. We’ve been looking at this for some time. The advisory board we work closely with is very engaged in this. We’ve been dissatisfied with a number of people have come forward trying to overturn those convictions. So this has been something we’ve been deliberating for some time.
One thing we should not have is trial by media. I think we should let the inquiry run its course. It should report and identify individuals and organisations responsible. At that point in time then sanctions can be placed on those individuals.
Continue reading…Kevin Hollinrake, minister for postal services, says he welcomed the decision by former Post Office boss to hand back her CBEGood morning. Kevin Hollinrake, a minister in the department for business, has been doing a morning interview round this morning. Normally when a junior minister does the morning interview round they end up being asked topics about which they know not much more than you or me, but today the interviews were a bit more illuminating than normal. Hollinrake is minister for postal services, and so he is well briefed on the story of the day, but he is also an MP who was taking an interest in the Post Office Horizon scandal even before he joined the government.Rishi Sunak is taking PMQs at noon and, after Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, told MPs yesterday that an announcement about a possible move to quash all the unsafe Post Office convictions in one go might be coming soon, there is intense speculation that Sunak will unveil the news in the chamber. Prime ministers always like to be identified with “good” government announcements, and having a “story” like this up your sleeve is a very useful defence mechanism at PMQs. In his interviews Hollinrake did not confirm that the announcement would come today, but he said it was “very, very close”.Not true. We’ve been looking at this for some time. The advisory board we work closely with is very engaged in this. We’ve been dissatisfied with a number of people have come forward trying to overturn those convictions. So this has been something we’ve been deliberating for some time.One thing we should not have is trial by media. I think we should let the inquiry run its course. It should report and identify individuals and organisations responsible. At that point in time then sanctions can be placed on those individuals. Continue reading…