Post Office chairman Henry Staunton is reportedly on the verge of being forced from the role (Image: Parliament TV)

       Post Office chairman Henry Staunton has been forced from the role amid an ongoing row between the state-owned company and the Government in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

       Mr Staunton leaves the top job after only taking on the role in December 2022. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is understood to have decided to replace Mr Staunton. First reported by Sky News, the broadcaster also reports frustration in Whitehall at the pace of change at the Post Office after Horizon.

       An insider told Sky there have been several points of tension between Mr Staunton and the Government in recent months, though insiders have also said his dismissal is not directly linked to the Post Office Horizon scandal.

       A Government spokesperson said: "In a phone call earlier today, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and Henry Staunton, Chair of Post Office Limited (POL), agreed to part ways with mutual consent.

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       "An interim will be appointed shortly and a recruitment process for a new Chair will be launched in due course, in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments."

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       Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Post Office chairman Henry Staunton (Image: Getty)

       A Government spokesperson said in an earlier statement issued to Sky: "It is important Post Office continues the essential work to implement the necessary operational and cultural changes needed within the business."

       The Post Office is owned by the Government, through the Department for Business and Trade, and UK Government Investments (UKGI).

       Before taking on the Post Office role, Mr Staunton chaired WH Smith, The Phoenix Group and Ashtead Group. He was also vice chairman of Legal and General, and served on the boards of ITN, BSkyB, Ladbrokes and Standard Bank.

       Express.co.uk has approached Mr Staunton via the Post Office.

       The ousting of Mr Staunton comes as the Government tries to tackle the Horizon scandal and amid an ongoing inquiry into what has been described as one of Britain's most widespread miscarriages of justice.

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       Henry Staunton was dismissed as the Government tries to tackle fall out from the Horizon scandal (Image: Getty)

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       More than 700 branch managers were prosecuted by the Post Office after Fujitsu's faulty accounting software Horizon made it look as though money was missing from their shops.

       The saga prompted an outcry across the country after it was dramatised in the ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, earlier this month.

       Hundreds of subpostmasters are awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for ￡600,000 payouts.

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       A new law is being introduced to exonerate the Post Office branch managers caught up in the IT scandal.

       Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said they were victims of "one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history".

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