A complete collapse of trust in Post Office means it has to be removed from compensation schemes

In fact, former sub-postmaster and lead campaigner Alan Bates said that last week, describing the organisation as a “dead duck”.

Therefore MPs are right to call for the organisation to be removed from compensation schemes given how poorly the Post Office has dealt with this scandal. It is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice. Compounded by the mishandling of compensation.

The fact that “only £1 in £5 of the budget for compensation has been issued” to subpostmasters, according to Liam Byrne, chairman of the Business and Trade Committee, shames an organisation that no longer commands the respect of the general public. An independent body has to be established to help victims “through every stage of their compensation claims”, as the committee’s report calls for.

Compensation cannot be allowed to become caught up in a morass of bureaucracy. Innocent subpostmasters have suffered long enough. It isn’t just a financial consideration but a moral imperative that wrongly convicted postmasters are cleared and given fair compensation.

Legally binding timeframes need to be put in place for when redress should be delivered to affected subpostmasters in order to stop “unacceptable delays”, as Mr Bates suggested last week.

The fallout from the scandal has led to an unedifying spectacle of bosses blaming each other for failings at the Post Office.

The TV programme Mr Bates vs The Post Office caused such a stir that 12 foreign broadcasters have bought the right to show it. Meaning that events of this shameful chapter in British public life will be spread across the globe.