Post Office campaigner sends brutal reply to Government invite to garden party
A Post Office campaigner has accused ministers of still failing to “get it” after they asked her to attend a Royal garden party as hundreds still fight for justice.
Former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton, whose story was told in ITV's Mr Bates vs The Post Office, publicly turned down an invitation issued by the Government as she accused them of partying "while postmasters wait for crumbs from their table". In a letter to the Department for Business and Trade, she warned she has "nothing to celebrate" while her colleagues still fight to get compensation for the Post Office scandal.
Ms Hamilton posted her reply on Twitter/X and tagged Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake, with the comment: "The DBT invited me to a Royal Garden Party . They still don't get it!!! They party on while postmasters wait for the crumbs from their table!!!" She described DBT as "the very department that has prolonged such hardship" among postmasters.
The former subpostmistress was forced to remortgage her house twice and ended up with heaps of debt after being wrongly accused of taking money from the Post Office. Ms Hamilton, who ran a village shop in South Warnborough, Hampshire, was charged with theft of more than £36,000 and accepted a lesser charge of false accounting in court to avoid going to prison.
Jo Hamilton was portrayed by Monica Dolan in ITV's Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV)She later had her conviction quashed. Hundreds of postmasters are still waiting for compensation despite the promises of ministers, with lawyers warning some could still face waits of up to two years. The Post Office scandal saw them wrongly handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.
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Liam Byrne, the Labour chair of the Commons Business Committee, said: "If ministers think they can pacify subpostmasters like Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton with a garden party they are very much mistaken. Garden parties are not a substitute for justice. Justice is what’s needed. And it’s needed now."
In a reply to Ms Hamilton, Mr Hollinrake wrote: "I’m not attending this event, however we were asked to nominate people in recognition of their service to the nation, and we felt you were very deserving of that. I know this invite can’t make up for the hardships that you and other postmasters have faced, and we remain committed to delivering the justice and compensation you all deserve."
ITV's drama about the scandal ignited a fresh wave of outrage over the huge miscarriage of justice. Post Office hero and lead campaigner Alan Bates , who was played by Toby Jones in the series, pleaded with ministers to "get on and pay" victims of the Horizon scandal when he appeared at the Commons Business Committee on Tuesday.
Jo Hamilton's letter in full:
Dear Honours Team,
Thank you very much for my invitation to attend a Royal Garden Party. While it would be lovely to attend, I feel I cannot accept the invitation as I have nothing to celebrate while my colleagues have yet to receive financial redress.
I am and always will be a member of the GLO [Group Litigation Order] group. We formed in 2009, I attended the first meeting an it has literally been the fight of my life for some 16 years now.
How sad that after two massive high court victories more than four years ago, many of the group have not even had monies stolen from them returned, let alone any kind of financial redress.
It is for this reason I am unable to party as I find the idea of being a guest of the very department that has prolonged such hardship on my colleagues very unpalatable.
Yours sincerely
Jo Hamilton
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