When the explosive Panama Papers revelations dropped on Sunday, Downing Street breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Not a single Cabinet minister featured in the 11.5 million documents and the offshore dealings of David Cameron’s late father had featured in the Press four years ago.

However, following four days of disastrous crisis handling, Mr Cameron was last night reeling from his most damaging week as Prime Minister.

His dramatic mea culpa that he previously held offshore investments with Panama-based Blairmore Holdings Limited was the fifth time Downing Street had issued a different response to the astonishing furore.

The public relations disaster came as Mr Cameron dealt with anger from some Tory MPs about his decision to fund a pro-EU leaflet ahead of the referendum.