Paula Vennells has announced she will hand back her CBE with immediate effect, meaning the former Post Office boss now suffers the pain of a slightly shorter name as a consequence of the wrongful conviction of hundreds of subpostmasters.
The former Post Office boss now suffers the pain of a slightly shorter name
A petition demanding that she be stripped of the honour had reached 1.2 million signatures, and Rishi Sunak had let it be known that he was very supportive of the Honours Committee looking into whether she should lose the gong. So it was only a matter of time – and Vennells has clearly decided to cut the drama short on this at least.
Vennells and Ed Davey are the current lightning rods for a political debate that should have raged a good while ago. It is natural that people look for scapegoats as a way of channelling their anger about a scandal.
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