Ian Hislop’s condemnation of the Government’s response to the Post Office scandal saw ITV’s Peston show descend into chaos this week as the journalist went head-to-head with a Tory MP.
The Private Eye editor was embroiled in a fiery clash with Jake Berry, the Conservative MP for Rossendale and Darwen, while discussing pensions awarded to bosses who received massive payouts despite the miscarriage of justice for sub-postmasters and postmistresses on Peston yesterday.
He claimed Post Office chiefs were “incentivised to make money”, which led to them “ignoring what was going on in the hope of getting better remuneration”, adding they should have to return any bonuses they received as their workers were charged and convicted due to IT software errors.
In response, Mr Berry suggested the Government could act by passing emergency legislation limiting their taxpayer-funded pensions, eliciting a passionate response from Mr Hislop.
The satirist asked the former minister why Conservatives couldn’t “do it so long ago”, with workers’ lives having been ruined by prosecutions. After Mr Berry made the suggestion during the appearance on Wednesday evening, a furious Mr Hislop claimed ministers were only acting after ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office aired earlier this month.
He said: The fact that it takes an ITV drama, and suddenly – having been told their entire campaigning lives ‘this is very difficult you’ll have to go in front of a judge’ – [the Government says] tomorrow we’ll pass legislation and you’re all exonerated.
“It is absolutely fatuous for this Government to claim: ‘Hey, we’re really acting now’.”
He added that the Government did “nothing the whole time”, which left the Tory MP fighting to defend his party’s track record.
Mr Berry claimed Mr Hislop’s statement was “demonstrably complete and utter nonsense”, to which the editor replied: “Then why did you give her a CBE in 2019?”
The MP said that “during the intervening period” before the ITV drama concluded in 2019, a total of £130 million had been paid out in compensation, but the rest of his statement was drowned out as Peston concluded for the evening.
The Post Office rolled out the Horizon IT software – developed by Japanese tech firm Fujitsu – in 1999 to manage financial transactions, and, despite staff raising alarm bells, hundreds were prosecuted for their errors.
While the Government has acted most swiftly since Mr Bates vs the Post Office caused a new wave of outrage this month – with new laws promising to quash remaining convictions – it had also, in fact, acted before then.
The High Court drew attention to the major injustice in 2019 when it revealed the Horizon software was to blame, and the Government ordered an inquiry into the controversy that year.
But progress has been slow outside of the courtroom, with only 93 of 736 convictions quashed and little action from ministers, who could have passed the laws earlier.
