2024 in review: Post Office scandals and political upheaval

The first episode of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which dramatised the scandal of innocent sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of fraud and theft because of a faulty computer system, was watched by 10.9m viewers.

Many more joined them for the three remaining episodes over consecutive nights, as millions became aware for the first time of one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of justice and were horrified by it.

Never before has a TV drama had such impact. It spurred the government into action over an injustice which had rumbled on for years without getting the attention it deserved, and prompted 1.2m signatures to an online petition demanding former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennels be stripped of her CBE.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Commons the scandal was “an appalling miscarriage of justice”. The government was looking at ways to clear the names of those falsely criminalised because Horizon software made them appear to have huge financial discrepancies in their accounts, and the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into possible fraud by the Post Office.

Events moved swiftly. On January 9, Vennels announced she was voluntarily relinquishing her CBE, the following day Mr Sunak announced emergency legislation to “swiftly exonerate and compensate victims”, and three days later Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch asked Post Office chairman Henry Staunton to step down.

Public attention turned to the official inquiry, which had been running for nearly two years. What people witnessed was a succession of Post Office executives being evasive under questioning.

On May 22, it was Paula Vennels’ turn. Over a torrid two days of cross-examination, she broke down in tears and admitted not being truthful when giving evidence to MPs about what she knew of the Horizon IT problems and the prosecutions of postmasters.

A few weeks later, on June 14, the Mr Bates of the TV drama, Alan Bates, a postmaster who had campaigned doggedly for justice, was knighted in the King’s birthday honours.

That came as the Royal Family had been the focus of great public concern – and the worst excesses of social media – because of health problems.

On January 17, Buckingham Palace announced the King was to undergo surgery for an enlarged prostate, and that the Princess of Wales would be stepping back from public engagements for a few weeks after abdominal surgery.

Both were treated at the private London Clinic and discharged on the same day, January 29.

Six days later, the palace announced the King had been diagnosed with cancer and would postpone his public duties while having treatment.

In a statement on February 10, he expressed “heartfelt thanks” for the public’s messages of support, adding: “As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement.

“It is equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a light on the work of all those organisations which support cancer patients and their families across the UK and wider world.”

The King returned to public life on April 30, with a visit to University College Hospital's Macmillan Cancer Centre. He also became patron of Cancer Research UK.

But if the country was glad to see him on the mend, there were those who would not let the Princess of Wales recuperate in peace, having not been seen since late December.

Wild and hurtful conspiracy theories about her illness and absence from public life began circulating on social media.

In an effort to counter them, on March 10 Kensington Palace issued a new picture of Kate with her husband and children.

It made matters worse. Hours later, the image was withdrawn by international picture agencies over concerns it had been digitally manipulated because of the position of Princess Charlotte’s hand. This further fuelled social media frenzy.

The next day, Kate took to X (Twitter) to apologise for “any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused”, confirming she had altered the picture, saying, “I do occasionally experiment with editing.”

The blizzard of comment and allegations continued unabated, and only began to subside when, on March 22, the palace revealed that Kate had also been diagnosed with cancer after undergoing abdominal surgery and was receiving treatment for the disease.

In Yorkshire, the following month revived memories of one of our county’s darkest moments – the 2005 murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, shot when she was sent to a robbery at a shop in Bradford.

On April 4, Piran Ditta Khan, 75, the mastermind of the robbery gang, was convicted of her murder and jailed for life at Leeds Crown Court, having spent two decades evading justice before being extradited from Pakistan. He was the last of seven men convicted over her death.

Passing a minimum sentence of 40 years, Mr Justice Hilliard told him that Pc Beshenivsky's “courage and commitment to her duty that day cost her her life”.

He went on: “The sentence I pass is no measure of the value of the life that has been lost. That's beyond measure and no sentence I pass can put right what you've done wrong.”

Throughout the first part of the year, one question occupied Britain’s politics – when would the election be called?

The Prime Minister kept the country guessing, saying on January 4 that his “working assumption” was it would be in the second half of the year.

Whenever it came, the Conservatives faced an uphill struggle to retain power. Opinion polls consistently gave Labour a commanding lead, and a series of by-elections continued the trend of 2023 for the government to lose formerly safe seats. On February 16, Wellingborough and Kingswood both went to Labour.

On the 29th, following a divisive by-election campaign in which the conflict in Palestine was a key factor, the political maverick George Galloway won Rochdale for his Workers Party of Britain. His was to be a short tenure. The seat returned to its traditional Labour allegiance at the general election.

There was a steady stream of Conservatives abandoning ship by announcing they would not stand for re-election, the most high-profile of whom was former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Three days after her announcement, on March 11 Ashfield MP Lee Anderson defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, becoming the party’s first MP.

The local and mayoral elections on May 2 provided further evidence of disenchantment with the Tories and growing support for Labour.

Labour’s David Skaith won the inaugural mayoral election for York and North Yorkshire, joining his counterparts Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire and Oliver Coppard in South Yorkshire.

The Conservatives lost more than 400 council seats. Their only cause for celebration was Ben Houchen retaining the Tees Valley mayoralty.

Speculation about the election ended on May 22, when after a day of rumours, Mr Sunak stepped into a rainy Downing Street just after 5pm to announce it would be on July 4.

Anyone who believed in omens had plenty to ponder. It didn’t just rain on the Prime Minister, it bucketed down from a glowering grey sky.

He was drenched but defiant, defending his record, laying emphasis on an improving economy and saying: “Over the next few weeks, I will fight for every vote, I will earn your trust, and I will prove to you that only a Conservative government, led by me, will not put our hard-earned economic stability at risk.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responded that it was “time for change”, adding: “Give the Tories five more years and things will only get worse. Britain deserves better than that.”

As the two main parties slugged it out on the campaign trail – including some fractious televised debates – a familiar figure entered the fray.

On June 3, Nigel Farage announced he would stand as the Reform UK candidate in the Essex seat of Clacton, and was also taking over leadership of the party.

The next day, he had a milkshake thrown over him by a woman at his campaign launch in Clacton. A few days later, a man in Barnsley was arrested for throwing objects at Mr Farage’s open-top bus.

The sense of the Conservatives being on the back foot was reinforced by a terrible misjudgement during the 80th anniversary commemorations of the June 6 D-Day landings.

After travelling to France to speak at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, Mr Sunak left the commemorations early to return to the election campaign, even though other world leaders stayed on.

There was widespread criticism of the decision, including accusations that it was disrespectful to surviving D-Day veterans and the memory of the fallen. On June 7, Mr Sunak tried to undo the damage, saying: “On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.”

He wasn’t the only leader in trouble. As June came to a close, US President Joe Biden faced pressure to stand down as the Democrat candidate in the forthcoming election after a stumbling performance in a televised debate against his Republican rival Donald Trump.