Keir Starmer and the CPS: Labour's Achilles heel?

Labour leader was head of the CPS when three of its cases resulted in Post Office scandal convictions

Keir Starmer
A spokesperson for Starmer said that during his time as director of public prosecutions, no Horizon cases 'were brought to his desk'
(Image credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Keir Starmer's pre-parliamentary career as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has come under renewed scrutiny over the prosecution of sub-postmasters during his tenure.

The CPS said on Wednesday that it brought 11 prosecutions against Post Office workers between 2008 and 2018 in connection with the controversial Horizon IT system. The Labour leader, as director of public prosecutions (DPP), headed the CPS from 2008 to 2013, during which time three of those cases were investigated, said The Telegraph.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.