Ex-Post Office stripped of honour amid criticism following her handling of the horizion scandal. Credit: Associated Press/Kin Cheung

Former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, has been formally stripped of her CBE by the King for “bringing the honours system into disrepute”.

Vennells recieved the honour in 2019 but had previously said that she would give it up.

The decision was announced on the cabinet office website today.

The scandal was brought back to public attention after an ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office was aired earlier this year.

Over 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses had their reputations ruined by allegations of theft and false accounting, with many bankrupted or put in prison, as a result of a computer system called Horizon.

Despite years of campaigning, only a small number of those wrongly locked up have had their convictions quashed.

The government has since pledged to exonerate those who were wrongly convicted.

Home Secretary James Cleverley has said the government will not be “distracted or deterred” from providing compensation to wronged sub-postmasters.