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Kemi Badenoch, the UK's business secretary, made a statement on Sunday, February 18, in response to remarks made by Henry Staunton, the ex-chair of the Post Office, who was sacked from his position in January 2024.
Staunton made comments in an interview with The Sunday Times earlier that day, where he alleged being instructed by a senior civil servant to “stall on compensation payments” to the Horizon victims so that the government could “limp into the election” with the lowest possible financial liability.
Horizon, the faulty IT system installed in the Post Office in 1999, led to the wrongful dismissal of hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses by making it look like money was missing from their branches between 1999 and 2015. Some of the victims were falsely sent to prison, while others ended up taking their lives.
According to BBC reports, in her statement to the House of Commons, 44-year-old Badenoch refuted Staunton's claims as “completely false” and called them “a blatant attempt to seek revenge following dismissal.”
Kemi Badenoch studied Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex
Kemi Badenoch, a 44-year-old Member of Parliament (MP) representing the House of Commons since 2017, hails from Wimbledon, London.
Badenoch began her academic journey at Phoenix College, a further education college in Morden, South London, where she achieved A levels. Thereafter, she joined the University of Sussex to pursue a master’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering (M.Eng), graduating in 2003.
While working at CGI as a software engineer, Badenoch enrolled herself at Birkbeck, University of London, to study Law part-time. She completed her B.A.L.L.B. degree in 2009 and took up roles in consultancy and finance for the next decade.
Badenoch's first role in the UK Government was as the Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families in July 2019. In February 2020, she was appointed to the HM Treasury as an Exchequer Secretary. In 2022, Badenoch was appointed as the Minister of Women & Equalities.
Kemi Badenoch called Staunton’s interview “a disgraceful misinterpretation”
On the same day that Staunton’s interview with The Sunday Times was published, Kemi Badenoch took to her X handle to talk about it:
“The Henry Staunton Sunday Times interview is a disgraceful misinterpretation of my conversation with him and the reason for his dismissal. This was all explained to the journalist who chose to ignore the facts and run with Staunton’s words.”
Badenoch then went on to state the “facts” in a thread, stating that the real reason for Staunton’s dismissal was his “lack of grip getting justice for postmasters.”
Several X users have since reacted to Badenoch’s tweet, blasting the MP for not bringing up the Horizon when she met with Fujistu last week. Some of them also appeared to side strongly with Staunton on the matter.
Here are some of the X reactions:
According to the BBC, Labour MP Liam Byrne has approached Henry Staunton to attend a session with the chair of the Business and Trade Committee next week. Alongside Staunton, the committee will also be hearing evidence from Alan Bates - the sub-postmaster who first raised his voice against the faulty Horizon IT - and Nick Read – the chief executive of the Post Office.
