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The BBC has been accused of using an actress to pretend to be a Brexit-backing pastor on Newsnight.

Dog collar-wearing 'Revered Lynn' appeared on the flagship show to fiercely defend Theresa May, urging viewers to “have faith in the government”.

She is the pastor for a tiny organisation called the Seeds for Wealth Ministries, which claims to “help you realise, release and walk into your financial freedom in Christ”.

However eagle-eyed viewers spotted that a woman who appears to be the same person regularly works as an extra under the name Marina Hayter - and was even in in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

(Image: BBC)

The broadcaster denies the claims.

In a tweet, Newsnight said: "Claims that Lynn appeared on #newsnight as a paid actor are false. Lynn is a pastor and was a genuine participant of our Brexit debate.

"She carries out work as an extra using her middle name but this is not relevant to the capacity in which she appeared. #VicarGate"

Marina has a fairly impressive resume of roles on IMDB and extra jobs include: Bar Worker, Chemo Patient, Wedding Guest and Fun Fair Attendee.

Twitter is awash with theories that the BBC hired her to appear on the show – leading to “Vicargate”.

(Image: LynnHayter/Twitter)

Labour peer Andrew Adonis even waded in.

He tweeted that “Lynn is a pastor and I am the Pope” before calling her a “fake pastor” and accusing the BBC of “a reign of lies”.

Many other agreed with him. One viewer said: "Reverend Lynn is in fact Marina Hayter.

"She has played numerous roles including Peasant Woman, quizzical librarian and shocked neighbour but no vicars until her starring role as Brexit deal fan girl."

(Image: BBC)

Another agreed: "WTF! This lady playing 'Reverend Lynn' is actually an actress called Marina Hayter (stage name?) who is a professional TV talk show guest.

"In other words, she was hired by @BBCNewsnight to say she backed May's plan. This kind of undemocratic deception has to have consequences!"

But Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis accused Lord Adonis of “peddling fake news”.

She tweeted: "Not in this day and age.

"Not when we need our parliamentarians to be better and more trusted than ever.

"To have got to a place where you could choose to believe that enough to write it is deeply worrying."