Feb 7, 2024
Ed Davey was advised to meet Post Office campaigner Alan Bates to avoid bad publicity
Sir Ed Davey was advised as postal minister in 2010 to meet Post Office campaigner Alan Bates to avoid bad publicity over the Horizon scandal, the BBC has discovered. Sir Ed said it "Wasn't the case" that he had agreed to meet Mr Bates because of potential bad publicity. Sir Ed said he was the first minister to meet Mr Bates and added he took his concerns "Very seriously". The note advised establishing at a "Very early stage" in the meeting whether Mr Bates was considering legal action against the Post Office, so that Sir Ed could adopt an approach of avoiding commenting on impending legal matters. Writing in the Guardian newspaper last week, Sir Ed said officials had advised him not to meet Mr Bates when he first became a postal affairs minister in May 2010, because the Post Office was owned "But not run" by the government.
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