Kemi Badenoch Says Former Post Office Chair Allegations "Completely False"

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said that claims made by the former former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton that he was asked to delay compensation to victims of the Horizon scandal are “completely false”.

Badenoch made a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon, in which she addressed claims that were raised in an interview with Staunton in the Sunday Times over the weekend. 

Staunton, who had been in the job for little more than a year, told the newspaper that when he was sacked, Badenoch had told him that “someone’s got to take the rap” for the Post Office Horizon scandal. 

He had also claimed that a senior civil servant told him to stall on compensation payments to Horizon victims so the government could “limp into the election” with a lower financial liability.

Badenoch told the Commons that "several serious allegations were made against the government's my department and its officials” over the weekend and “these allegations are completely false.”

Badenoch said that she had gone to “great pains” to make her concerns about Staunton’s conduct “private” and that she had minuted notes of the phone call where Staunton was dismissed. 

She also said that there was “no evidence whatsoever” that he was asked to stall compensation.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, she said: “I would hope the most people reading the interview in yesterday's on the Sunday Times would see it for what it was; a blatant attempt to seek revenge following dismissal.”

She added: “I must say that I regret the way in which these events have unfolded. We did everything we could to manage this dismissal in a dignified way for Mr Staunton and others.  

“However, I will not hesitate to defend myself and more importantly, my officials who cannot