The role of the Liberal Democrat leader is normally a simple one: sit on the sidelines, demand resignations and attack the Tories for being so beastly. But the incumbent Sir Ed Davey is now in a bit of jam over the ongoing Post Office scandal. For prior to reinventing himself as the scourge of Conservatives everywhere, Davey served from 2010 until 2012 as the postal affairs minister in the Coalition government.
In this role, he was told of concerns about the Post Office’s faulty Horizon software, which eventually led to hundreds of postmasters being prosecuted over fraud, theft and false accounting. Davey is accused of ‘fobbing off’ those affected. Campaigner Alan Bates claims he sent the Lib Dem leader at least five letters when he was in office – including one in 2011 which warned him that legal action against the Post Office over the scandal could leave the taxpayer exposed to ‘astronomical’ costs.
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