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No politician would want to get blamed for that and in a parliament of minorities it is not necessarily the governing party that would take the rap.

The row between Ms Badenoch and Mr Staunton started when Mr Staunton told the Sunday Times that Ms Badenoch had said "someone's got to take the rap" during his sacking last month, and that a senior civil servant had instructed the rate of payments to be slowed.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Henry Staunton said that when he was sacked Ms Badenoch told him: "Someone's got to take the rap" for Post Office failings - a claim she has denied.

Mr Staunton also said that when he was sacked, Ms Badenoch had told him: "Someone's got to take the rap."

Staunton told the Sunday Times that when he was sacked Badenoch had told him: "Someone's got to take the rap."