The Post Office should be ‘handed over’ to postmasters in the wake of the Horizon outrage, ousted chairman furiously tells MPs – as he accuses the Government of ‘failing to do the decent thing’ in blistering letter

The Post Office should be ‘handed over’ to postmasters in the wake of the Horizon scandal, the ousted chairman has furiously told MPs.

Henry Staunton, who was fired from his role in January, accused the Government of not owning up to its ‘failings’ or doing ‘the decent thing’ by wrongly-accused sub-postmasters in a blistering letter.

The note, addressed to Liam Byrne – the chair of the business and trade committee, said the Government had ‘consistently hidden behind the Post Office’s skirts, spinning their way away from trouble’.

It comes just days after Mr Staunton became further entrenched with his row with Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch who he accused to creating a ‘smear campaign’ against him amid allegations of bullying.

During an explosive business and trade committee meeting, Mr Staunton revealed that the Post Office’s current chief exec, Nick Read, was being investigated and claimed he tried to resign four times after complaining his salary was too low.

Mr Staunton was being quizzed about his own behaviour and allegations that he was told to stall compensation payments to victims of the Horizon disaster. 

In a letter, seen by Sky News,Mr Staunton said: ‘The government cannot continue to dodge its responsibilities, pretending in public to be all heart and compassion, while it allows stony-faced lawyers to rack up their hours doing their best to prevaricate and penny-pinch.’  

He went on to describe the ‘deep dysfunction’ within the Post Office and called for a ‘hard, concrete deadline’ for victim compensation, ‘ideally no more than six months’.

More than 700 postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly convicted of theft and false account due to the faulty Horizon IT software between 1999 and 2015. 

The scandal was plunged back into the public spotlight earlier this year following the success of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office that looked into how Alan Bates and other postmasters brought the issue to light.

Mr Staunton reportedly went on to claim compensation for the victims should be increased by £600,000 to £1m for each convicted post master. 

He added that it should be taken out of government control by ‘handing it over, lock, stock and barrel to the post masters themselves’. 

The letter documented the former chairman’s ‘further thoughts on what now needs to be done’.

It marks the latest in a war of words between himself and Ms Badenoch who last week informed the Commons there was ‘no evidence whatsoever’ that Mr Staunton had been told to delay compensation payments. 

MailOnline has contacted the Department for Business and Trade.