Mr. Bates vs the Post Office viewers have been left incensed by the latest drama. So much so that they’ve revived a petition hitting out at Paula Vennells.
Ex-Post Office CEO Vennells was awarded a CBE in 2019. Now, over one million Brits have signed the petition, demanding she be stripped of it.
Who is Paula Vennells?
Vennells, 65, used to be the CEO of the Post Office. She held the role between 2012 and 2019.
It was under her leadership that the Post Office prosecuted sub-postmasters for theft, false accounting, and fraud. This was despite evidence that the Horizon IT system was unreliable.
In 2019, after stepping down from her role as CEO of the post office, she was awarded a CBE. This was for “services to the Post Office and to charity”.
In the wake of the Post Office scandal, she resigned from her role as an Anglican priest. She also left her directorships at Dunelm and Morrisons in 2021.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office viewers revive petition
In light of the Mr Bates vs the Post Office drama on ITV, angry viewers have revived a petition, calling for Vennells’ CBE to be stripped of her.
A petition, titled “Strip Paula Vennells of her CBE” was launched three years ago. However, until three days ago, it only had approximately 1,000 signatures.
However, following the launch of the Mr Bates drama, the petition has found new life.
“Remove the CBE granted to Paula Vennells due to her role in the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office staff as part of the Horizon computer scandal,” the petition reads.
“Having been handed a CBE for services to the Post Office, and moved out into other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the process of forfeiture,” the petition also says.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, spoke of the scandal at a PM Connect event in Lancashire today (Monday, January 8).
“So people should know that we are on it and we want to make this right, that money has been set aside. What we are now looking at is how can we speed all of that up?” he said.
The petition has now reached over 1 million signatures at the time of writing.
Post Office issues apology
“Paula Vennells has subsequently refused to answer questions from these staff as well as the media and has refused to apologise for the cover-up, misery and trauma caused which has brought not only herself but the Post Office, the honours system and government into disrepute,” it also says.
In the wake of the new drama, the Post Office has issued an apology to those who were affected by the scandal.
“We sincerely apologise to victims for the devastating impact of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal on the lives of so many,” they said in a statement.
“We are doing all we can to provide redress and urge anyone affected who has not yet come forward to do so,” they then said.
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