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Sir Ed Davey

(117 Posts)
Callistemon21 Sun 14-Jan-24 11:04:45

Sir Ed Davey refuses to apologise for his part in the Post Office scandal. As Postal Affairs Minister he claims to have been 'misled'.

His brother was a partner in HSF, the firm hired to relentlessly fight the litigation brought by the sub postmasters and postmistresses in 2019.

When Ed Davey lost his seat at the 2015 General Election, he accepted a lucrative consultancy with HSF, and after winning back his seat in 2017, he accepted £275,000 from HSF in addition to his parliamentary salary, before quitting in January 2022 after criticism of MPs having second jobs.

So while sub-postmasters fought for justice, the former Postal Affairs Minister was working for a firm helping the Post Office deny them justice.

He received a knighthood for his public and political service in 2015.

Should Ed Davey now resign and a new leader be appointed well before a General Election this year? I ask this as someone who has voted Liberal then Liberal Democratic many times over the years but feel let down yet again.

TerriBull Mon 15-Jan-24 16:37:27

I do wish the Post Mistress who is taking on Ed Davy in his constituency of Surbiton every success. As stated in an interview in yesterday's Sunday Times she is seeking to represent the "little people" she has already been involved as an independent councillor taking on the problem of a cycle lane imposed on the people of New Malden by the Lib Dem Council. In nearby Kingston, an area I lived adjacent to for over 35 years, a cycle lane there which takes up at least half of a major road, is often empty whilst the traffic is all stacked up and squeezed into an exceedingly narrowed main road sometimes gridlocked.

I wish we had more ordinary people go into politics who are on the ground, serving and understanding their local communities instead of who we have got. Far too many career politicians, who come from over privileged backgrounds in the first place, very little experience of life, on graduating and with handy connections to ease their way into the political arena via some sort of advisory job which often appears to be a pre requisite before the inevitability of becoming an MP.

I think what the recent programme highlighting the injustices of the Post Office debacle illustrated, is how sick the ordinary person is of the malaise that hangs around our so called elite in both business and politics. It's the lack of culpability and the conspiratorial way they appear to have each others backs rather than to investigate a miscarriage of justice until the lid has been blown thoroughly off it and they've finally sensed the public mood.

I hope Ed Davy loses his seat like his predecessors. Look where Nick Clegg is now and how easily he managed to shed his principles. I suppose it's a small mercy he's over there and not here in the House of Lords, what a travesty given the Greensill scandal that Cameron has been elevated to that status shock

Keeper1 Mon 15-Jan-24 16:45:25

Yes he should resign and there are other people denying they knew anything about it which is odd as I remember at the time those poor people were being accused there were doubts about the computer system. So if I just a member of the public knew how could those supposedly in the know claim to not be aware?

MaizieD Mon 15-Jan-24 16:59:49

According to the 'reasoning' of some posters it seems to me that we should make a clean sweep of everyone who held a government office between 1996 and 2015. I'm not quite sure on what grounds they must be got rid of, but, hey, the were in government and the government owns the post office but none of them did anything to stop its outrageous behaviour, so off with all their heads....

I can see how bloody revolutions gather momentum.... hmm

Cossy Mon 15-Jan-24 17:21:47

Whatever he did or did not do surely Ed Davey IS sorry about all the unnecessary pain and torment, not to mention financial ruin, done to these poor sub postmasters. Why would he not express this?

Cossy Mon 15-Jan-24 17:22:49

Yes!! Haha, aside from James Aburthnot and Steve Jones who both supported Alan Bates.

Callistemon21 Mon 15-Jan-24 17:25:01

I'm just getting my knitting ready 🧶🥢
(They could be chopsticks 🤔)

Grantanow Mon 15-Jan-24 17:38:04

Saying 'Sorry' carries implications of culpability and in turn may have consequences...

Cossy Mon 15-Jan-24 17:48:09

Grantanow

Saying 'Sorry' carries implications of culpability and in turn may have consequences...

Well not saying sorry seems to have resulted in consequences!

petra Mon 15-Jan-24 17:48:20

Grantanow

Saying 'Sorry' carries implications of culpability and in turn may have consequences...

Vince Cabel said sorry several times in an interview a few days ago.

flappergirl Mon 15-Jan-24 21:05:48

MaizieD

According to the 'reasoning' of some posters it seems to me that we should make a clean sweep of everyone who held a government office between 1996 and 2015. I'm not quite sure on what grounds they must be got rid of, but, hey, the were in government and the government owns the post office but none of them did anything to stop its outrageous behaviour, so off with all their heads....

I can see how bloody revolutions gather momentum.... hmm

Indeed, they didn't do anything because too many of them have their noses in the trough. Did you know that Rishi Sunak's wife has earned millions in dividend payments from Fujitsu? Her family own a part of the company.

Ed Davey received a handsome payment from the solicitors ruthlessly prosecuting (and lying to) the sub postmasters. He was a consultant at that firm whilst also Minister for the Post Office.

Paula Vennells was granted her CBE in 2019 when the full horrors of the PO scandal were know to the Government (that's if we are to believe they didn't know from the outset). She was also one of three candidates chosen to be Bishop of London.

I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg and, if we knew the whole truth, it could actually blow the lid off the establishment including the church. It's pretty rotten at the top, not the bottom as they would have us all believe. So, up the revolution I say.

petra Mon 15-Jan-24 21:14:08

Listening to the piece on Radio4 it appears Fujitsu were in serious financial trouble before their fairy god mother ( the post office) bailed them out.
Fujitsu were known as a joke in the tech world.
As much as what we have been told/ read it’s the tip of a corrupt iceberg.
Why did Gorden Brown want to pull the plug?

MaizieD Mon 15-Jan-24 21:34:49

Ed Davey received a handsome payment from the solicitors ruthlessly prosecuting (and lying to) the sub postmasters. He was a consultant at that firm whilst also Minister for the Post Office.

Well, prove that he was up to his neck in working on the PO prosecutions while acting as consultant and I might take a different view.

I suspect that it was 'consultancy' in name only and entailed very little work... But I know as little as anyone else does.

MaizieD Mon 15-Jan-24 22:15:19

So, HFS, the law firm Davey worked for. A massive international law firm which had offices in UK and Australia. In 2017 it had 21,000 Lawyers and employed 4,700 people in total.

Davey's brother was a specialist in energy law. Davey was retained as a consultant on Energy, working 6 hours a month.
He was retained from 2017 (5 years after being PO minister and resigned in 2021 after the furore over MPs second jobs.

The PO retained HFS in 2019 when it was fighting the SPM's class action. This had nothing at all to do with HFS Energy division.

I think the likelihood of him being aware of a completely different section in a massive law practice being involved in the PO's case is small. Others may think differently...

I'm not posting links. The info is easy to find.

maddyone Mon 15-Jan-24 22:25:25

Should Ed Davey resign?

Yes.

MaizieD Mon 15-Jan-24 22:58:58

Why?

hallgreenmiss Tue 16-Jan-24 07:43:09

Given that one of the former wrongly accused postmistresses is planning to stand in the constituency he might as well resign.

hallgreenmiss Tue 16-Jan-24 07:47:08

MaizieD

^Ed Davey received a handsome payment from the solicitors ruthlessly prosecuting (and lying to) the sub postmasters. He was a consultant at that firm whilst also Minister for the Post Office.^

Well, prove that he was up to his neck in working on the PO prosecutions while acting as consultant and I might take a different view.

I suspect that it was 'consultancy' in name only and entailed very little work... But I know as little as anyone else does.

That’s beside the point. When an MP gives his good name and reputation to a business he has a responsibility to inform himself of all aspects of the business

MaizieD Tue 16-Jan-24 08:37:10

hallgreenmiss

MaizieD

Ed Davey received a handsome payment from the solicitors ruthlessly prosecuting (and lying to) the sub postmasters. He was a consultant at that firm whilst also Minister for the Post Office.

Well, prove that he was up to his neck in working on the PO prosecutions while acting as consultant and I might take a different view.

I suspect that it was 'consultancy' in name only and entailed very little work... But I know as little as anyone else does.

That’s beside the point. When an MP gives his good name and reputation to a business he has a responsibility to inform himself of all aspects of the business

You're joking. All aspects of this perfectly respectable international business?

Every case being taken on by 2,100 lawyers?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Smith_Freehills

Larsonsmum Tue 16-Jan-24 09:05:38

He most definitely should resign. Also annoys me that he is continually speaking in support of carers - rightly so - and emphasising how he has been a carer all his life, firstly from a young age for his mother, then for his own disabled child. Yet he has clearly shown absolutely not a jot of care towards all these poor victims of the Post Office from way back, and even now.

MaizieD Tue 16-Jan-24 09:34:35

Why is no-one calling for the heads of the 19 other PO ministers who presided over this scandal?

You're all being played and responding beautifully...

flappergirl Tue 16-Jan-24 10:00:46

MaizieD

Why is no-one calling for the heads of the 19 other PO ministers who presided over this scandal?

You're all being played and responding beautifully...

I agree with you insomuch as we are all being played. See my comment above about "noses in the trough" and corruption at the very top.

I do believe that, whilst Paula Vennells, Ed Davey et al are culpable in this immoral and stinking debacle, there are others in the establishment who are more than happy for them to take the full force of the wrath.

As I said, Rishi Sunak's wife has earned millions in dividends from her share in Fujitsu for a start.

Whilst absolutely nobody would deny the postmasters compensation (although so far they have received a pittance or even nothing at all after 20 years) why is the tax payer funding this?

Callistemon21 Tue 16-Jan-24 10:03:22

I did post a list of all Post Office Ministers, feel free to start a thread about each one, MaizieD.

I asked a question and posters are responding with their views, right or wrong

Why keep attacking and belittling them?

Oreo Tue 16-Jan-24 13:32:08

hallgreenmiss

MaizieD

Ed Davey received a handsome payment from the solicitors ruthlessly prosecuting (and lying to) the sub postmasters. He was a consultant at that firm whilst also Minister for the Post Office.

Well, prove that he was up to his neck in working on the PO prosecutions while acting as consultant and I might take a different view.

I suspect that it was 'consultancy' in name only and entailed very little work... But I know as little as anyone else does.

That’s beside the point. When an MP gives his good name and reputation to a business he has a responsibility to inform himself of all aspects of the business

Absolutely👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

MaizieD Tue 16-Jan-24 13:48:34

Callistemon21

I did post a list of all Post Office Ministers, feel free to start a thread about each one, MaizieD.

I asked a question and posters are responding with their views, right or wrong

Why keep attacking and belittling them?

This is trial by media, Callistemon, mostly driven by the right wing media.

The tories have presided over this debacle almost from the time when it first was drawn to the attention of the public in 2009. Funnily enough, it is a member of another party, the LibDems who is being targeted and smeared for his involvement in the first 2 years of tory government. What about subsequent 10 years when the tories have backed the PO to the hilt?

Removing Davey and leaving the LibDems to find a new leader in an election year would be very convenient for a party way behind in the polls. IMO it stinks.

Casdon Tue 16-Jan-24 13:55:52

Don’t you think there’s a lot more to come about ministerial involvement in this though? Ed Davey is a target currently, but I’d bet there will be much more uncovered, and many others who made key decisions will be equally or more in the frame over the coming weeks. I think most of the truth will out on this, and it’s not going to be at all pretty for any of the parties, not just the Lib Dem’s.