Number 10: It's hard to think of someone who's more deserving of a knighthood

CALL TO HONOUR ALAN BATES 'AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'

- Robert Kellaway

DOWNING Street has backed calls for hero campaigner Alan Bates to be knighted after his fight for justice in the Post Office scandal.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokeswoman said yesterday it would be "common sense" to honour the former sub-postmaster.

He battled for years for hundreds of colleagues wrongly prosecuted because of a faulty IT system. Cabinet minister Esther McVey said Alan should be knighted "as soon as possible".

Alan, 69, who led the campaign group Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance to its High Court victory in 2019, refused an OBE in this year's honour's list while former Post Office chief Paula Vennells still held the higher-ranking CBE.

He said taking a gong would be a "slap in the face" to all those still awaiting justice and payouts. Ms Vennells got her award at the start of 2019, shortly before she stepped down.

In December that year, 10 months after her departure, the Post Office agreed to settle with 555 claimants to end a long-running series of cases over the Fujitsu-developed Horizons IT system, admitting it "got things wrong".

They won nearly £43million compensation but most of it was swallowed by legal fees.

Two years later, 39 had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal.

MPs and campaigners have called for Alan's honour to be re-submitted now Ms Vennells has relinquished hers following a public outcry.

After she agreed to give it back the postmasters' champion suggested he would consider accepting a knighthood. He said: "I would wait until I was offered, if anyone chooses to offer me one, then come back and ask me."