Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey (Image: Getty)
Shameless Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey faced mounting calls to quit on Monday over his role in the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Richard Tice, the leader of the Reform Party, joined a growing number of Tory MPs who have condemned Sir Ed for failing to act.
More than 700 branch managers were convicted after faulty accounting software made it look like money was missing from their shops.
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE following massive public pressure.
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Sir Ed has faced intense criticism since it emerged he turned down a request to meet campaigning sub postmaster Alan Bates in 2010.
The Lib Dem leader has insisted he did raise concerns about Horizon with the Post Office but was repeatedly lied to by senior bosses.
Allies say he is being made a scapegoat and have pointed out Labour and Tory ministers were also in post during the long-running scandal.
But Mr Tice said that Sir Ed had been too “complacent” in trusting the word of Post Office executives, and called on him to stand down.
“I think he should go,” he said.
Tory MPs have also criticised Sir Ed for actions whilst he was the Post Office minister, a role in which he served from May 2010 to February 2012.
Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, said: “Ed Davey blames Post Office management."
“When he was the responsible Minister he could have listened to those who knew things were wrong. It was his job to supervise or change the management.”
Lee Anderson, the Tory deputy chair, told the Daily Express: “I struggle to see how easy it would be to forget that innocent people were convicted of stealing money from the Post Office on his watch”.
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“People like a former constituent of mine who was sent to jail for 3 years. I'm sure my former constituent won't suffer such a memory lapse and remember this horrific ordeal for the rest of his life."
"Instead of dodging scrutiny he should take a trip down memory lane and fully cooperate with the inquiry to explain why he let the Post Office get away scot-free for so long, otherwise he may face calls to resign from squeaky clean Sir Ed Davey.”
Sir Ed provoked further anger on Monday evening when he failed to turn up to a Parliamentary debate on the Horizon scandal.
The Lib Dem chief has insisted he did meet sub-postmasters after his initial rebuff to Mr Bates and that he raised their concerns with the Post Office.
He told The Guardian: “We were reassured time and again that the Horizon system was working. We were told there weren’t that many postmasters affected. We were just told so many lies."
“We absolutely have to have these people completely exonerated – their convictions must be overturned. The Post Office lied to judges and the courts.”
It comes as new evidence emerged undermining claims from one of Keir Starmer’s right-hand men that the Post Office scandal wasn’t raised with him while serving as a minister in Gordon Brown’s Government.
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Pat McFadden, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Times Radio last week that he did not remember the Post Office Horizon scandal being raised as an issue when he was Postal Affairs Minister from 2007-9.
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But official correspondence reveals the scandal was raised with him personally on at least two occasions - in 2009 and in 2010 - during his tenure in the role, and both times he unquestioningly sided with the Post Office.
Mr McFadden said: “The Post Office misled the Business Department and indeed the sub-postmasters when they said that any shortfalls or discrepancies in accounts were isolated incidents and that their IT systems were robust. That would have been reflected in any replies sent to MPs at the time.”
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