Scandal engulfed former Post Office boss nearly became Bishop of London
from Premier:
Paula Vennells, who led the Post Office during the Horizon scandal, was on the final three person shortlist to become Bishop of London in 2017.
According to the BBC she was interviewed for the role before it was given to Dame Sarah Mullally.
In a statement,a spokesperson for the Church of England said: “We never make any comment on who is a candidate, or not, in what is a confidential discernment process.”
The revelation comes on the day Vennells announced she was handing back her CBE in light of her role in the Horizon scandal which saw hundreds of subpostmasters being wrongfully prosecuted.
Their pleas that the IT system was faulty fell on deaf ears at the time, and many were convicted of fraud with some being fined or sentenced to time in prison.
Vennells denied there was a problem, and was awarded a CBE in December 2018.
But a recent TV dramatisation of the story has brought the widespread miscarriage of justice back into the spotlight, and intensified claims for her to hand back the honour. More than a million people signed a petition calling for it to be revoked, and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that he would ‘strongly support’ moves to look into that as a possibility.
In a statement Ms Vennells said: “I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the Inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.
“I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the Inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.
“I am, however, aware of the calls from subpostmasters and others to return my CBE.
“I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.
Read also: Revealed: How disgraced ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells nearly became the Bishop of London after being ‘supported’ in her application by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby by Andy Jehring, Daily Mail
from Religion Media Centre: Paula Vennells, ex CEO of the Post Office, “shortlisted to be Bishop of London”
The BBC has an exclusive story that the former CEO of the Post Office, Paula Vennells, who is also an ordained priest, was shortlisted in 2017 to be the Bishop of London, one of the top four bishops in the Church of England. This is despite the fact that as a non-stipendiary minister, she has never been in charge of a diocese or even a parish. The story by Harry Farley and BBC political correspondent Henry Zeffman, reports their sources saying the Archbishop of Canterbury pushed her application and was seen as a supporter of her. It has also been disclosed that she was among a group of academics, management consultants and business leaders who ran a CofE leadership development programme for bishops in 2016. Yesterday, she said she would return her CBE, something campaigners have urged especially since the ITV drama on the Post Office scandal where 700 people were wrongly prosecuted for financial discrepancies based on information from the software system in place.
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