Comedian Rosie Holt has earned praise after she managed to trick social media users with a video in which she posed as a Conservative MP blaming the Post Office Horizon Scandal on ITV.
The 1999 scandal, which saw 800 to 900 branch managers accused and convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting after the Post Office’s IT system incorrectly reported cash shortfalls in branches across the country, has come under renewed public interest following the release of ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
On Tuesday (9 January), disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handed back her CBE with immediate effect. Meanwhile, prime minister Rishi Sunak has now confirmed that a new law will be introduced so those wrongly convicted are “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.
Political comic Holt, who often shares videos parodying Tory MPs, shared her video on Tuesday following an interview from Tuesday’s (9 January)Good Morning Britain with Mel Stride, secretary of state for work and pensions.
During the interview, host Susanna Reid took the government to task, saying that they were “asleep on duty” not to notice.
In footage of herself imposed over the top of Stride, Holt replied: “Well no Susanna, I don’t think that’s fair. You have to understand that before this week, not one drama starring Toby Jones had been made on the subject, not one, and that to me shows a lack of duty of care.
“Toby Jones is a very fine actor, but what was he doing? I understand The Detectorists was very good, but who was that helping? What I want to know is why it took so long for ITV to make this drama.”
She continued: “There’s been so many miscarriages of justice, I was on Twitter this morning and someone was tweeting about ex-commandos in Afghanistan and how they’ve been abandoned by the British government.
“And what I say to them is: the government can’t do anything,” Holt went on, before correcting herself: “Can’t do everything. Can’t do everything. Everything. Can’t do everything. But we can watch dramas, and we will watch dramas. That’s true, especially if they’re starring Toby Jones.”
The clip was shared by Holt on Twitter/X with the caption: “MP blames Toby Jones & ITV for not making #PostOfficeScandal drama sooner.”
It was quickly lauded on social media, with Carol Vorderman branding Holt a “cheeky girl” and Hugh Laurie calling the clip “sublime”.
Toby Jones in Mr Bates vs The Post Office— (ITV)
Other fans kept the gag going: “I myself was disgusted by Toby Jones not bringing this scandal to light sooner, and why hasn’t he made any dramas about the sewage problem, the boats, the cost of energy, rent and mortgage increases. I used to have so much respect for him as an actor,” one joked.
Others, however, failed to realise that the sketch was a work of satire, with one branding Holt “a pathetic excuse of a minister”.
“What a load of crap you speak Rosie Holt… that was a very embarrassing and nonsensical interview… you 100 per cent blew it!” one response read, to which Holt replied: “It wasn’t remotely embarrassing. Toby Jones and ITV are the ones that should be embarrassed.”
“What a pathetic excuse of a minister,” another wrote.
