Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government told the Post Office to pay its bosses “generous” bonuses, the inquiry has heard. David Mills, its chief executive from 2002 to 2005, said Royal Mail Group, which owned the Post Office, was ordered to do so by Patricia Hewitt, the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Asked about his remuneration in the role, Mr Mills said: “First of all it was fixed, and then, I recall, the Secretary of State made it extremely clear to Allan Leighton [chairman of Royal Mail Group] that she expected the senior executive of the entire group to have remuneration that was performance-based, and that the targets for that performance should be stretching, and that the rewards for that stretching success were not to be miserly, they should be generous.” Mr Mills earlier told the inquiry that the Post office was losing £1 million every day when he first became chief executive. “It didn’t take me long to realise that we had a burning ship, it was losing a million pounds every single day it operated,” he said. Thank you for following the Telegraph’s live coverage of the Post Office inquiry. The inquiry has now concluded for the...