Damian Green was ordered to resign as First Secretary of State on Thursday night after a Cabinet Office investigation found he had misled the public and MPs over what he knew about pornography found on an office computer.

The Prime Minister’s de facto deputy and closest ally was told to resign by Theresa May after she told him his conduct had breached the ministerial code of conduct and “fallen short” of the behaviour expected of ministers.

He is the third Cabinet minister to be forced from office in the past two months and means that Mrs May ends the year with another crisis after she had appeared to turn around her fortunes with success in the Brexit talks.

A seven-week inquiry, originally launched after a complaint of inappropriate behaviour towards women, found that he had misled the public in two statements he made last month denying the police had ever told him about the material being found in a raid on his office in 2008.

In fact, the police had raised it with his solicitor in 2008 and with him directly in 2013.

Mrs May was presented with the report on Monday, and passed it to Sir Alex Allan, her independent adviser on ministerial standards, who agreed with its findings.