EX-POST Office boss Paula Vennells told the government that subpostmasters “had their fingers in the till,” the Horizon IT inquiry heard today.

Former postal affairs minister Jo Swinson told the inquiry that Ms Vennells was trying to convey that “although these might seem to be lovely people, clearly some of them are actually just at it.”

Ms Swinson said she was reassured that the former chief executive “spoke not only with the standing of a CEO of a major institution, but also with the moral authority of an ordained vicar.”