Gongs for cronies....but none for hero Mr Bates

Sunak shuns Post Office champ in favour of rewarding Tory chums

- LIZZY BUCHAN

RISHI Sunak snubbed Post Office hero Alan Bates in a surprise honours list that included gongs for MPs and a major Tory donor.

But the 69-year-old campaigner, who led a crusade against Post Office bosses for more than 20 years, said he would have refused any knighthood.

The ex-subpostmaster became a national treasure after ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office shone a light on the Horizon IT scandal.

More than 130,000 people  have signed a Mirror petition calling for him to be knighted. We revealed he rejected an OBE as ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells still had her CBE.

But she has since caved in to intense public pressure to hand it back.

The Prime Minister is under pressure to explain why Mr Bates is not on the list when he had backed calls for him to be honoured for helping to expose Britain's biggest miscarriage of justice.

In January, the PM's press secretary said it was "hard to think of someone more deserving" of an honour.