Over 90,000 sign our petition demanding honour for Post Office hero Alan Bates

10 January 2024 , 22:53

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The Mirror is calling for Alan Bates to receive a knighthood or CBE

More than 90,000 people have signed our petition demanding that Alan Bates is given an honour for exposing the Post Office scandal.

We believe the former postmaster, who led the decades-long fight for justice, should be recognised with either a knighthood or CBE.

Mr Bates had previously turned down an OBE as he believed it would be a “slap in the face” to the victims to accept an honour while ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held her CBE. After she handed back her gong, campaigners have said he should be recognised with the same honour himself - if not a knighthood.

Usually honours are announced to mark the New Year and the Monarch's birthday, but in special circumstances they can also be awarded at other times.

Sign our petition HERE to give Post Office hero Alan Bates an honour

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Alan Bates was played by Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Carol Vorderman, the presenter of the Pride of Britain Awards that recognised Mr Bates last year, said: "When I think of heroes I think of brave people who fight a Goliath for the good of all, and not themselves. Who are tenacious, who never give in. Alan Bates is all of those things. He shouldn't just get a CBE. He should be in the House of Lords getting his teeth into other matters. In Alan Bates we trust."

Robin Priestley, campaigns director at 38 Degrees, said: “If anyone deserves to be offered an honour for their work, it’s a man who has fought tirelessly for justice for so many years, who has done so much to bring the Horizon scandal to public attention. The pressure of more than 1.2million people left Paula Vennells with no choice but to give up her CBE. Now, that same people power can ensure that Alan Bates is offered another chance to be honoured.”

Labour has said it would support an honour for Mr Bates. Keir Starmer's spokesman said: "I think Alan Bates clearly has emerged as a hero throughout this for the way in which he has led the campaign, the fortitude and resolve he was shown given everything that has been thrown at him throughout this process. Obviously honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support."

Downing Street signalled that he could be in line for an honour. The PM’s Press Secretary said: “There is a formal process for honours, but it is hard to think of someone more deserving.” Esther McVey, who is the Minister for Common Sense, said Mr Bates should receive a knighthood "as soon as possible". Asked if Mr Sunak agreed, his Press Secretary said: “That sounds like common sense to me.”

Mr Bates has become a national treasure after millions watched his long and painful fight for justice portrayed in the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

He has campaigned tirelessly for 20 years to expose the truth about the Post Office scandal and get justice for subpostmasters whose lives it destroyed. He and his partner Suzanne Sercombe took over a shop in Llandudno that included a post office counter in 1998, investing £65,000 in the business.

But his contract was terminated in 2003 after the introduction of the Post Office’s new Horizon computer system led to unexplained losses appeared in his accounts. He led a group of more than 500 postmasters in taking the Post Office to the High Court.

Sign our petition HERE to give Post Office hero Alan Bates an honour

John Stevens