Rishi Sunak drafted a resignation statement on the day he was fined by police for breaching lockdown rules, but was persuaded to stay on after an intervention by executives working for Rupert Murdoch.

On April 12 last year, Mr Sunak, then the chancellor, was fined for attending a birthday gathering for Boris Johnson, then the prime minister, who also received a fine on the same day. The gathering broke Covid lockdown laws

A new book on the Conservatives’ long run in power by Ben Riley-Smith, The Telegraph’s political editor, discloses that Mr Sunak circulated wording for his proposed resignation to allies, including some working for Mr Murdoch.

But he was talked out of resigning and remained in post until  July 5, when he quit shortly after Sajid Javid had announced that he was resigning. He was quickly followed by others, eventually triggering the collapse of the Johnson administration.

According to allies of Mr Johnson, Mr Murdoch became aware of Mr Sunak’s draft resignation statement and personally intervened to ensure he remained in post.

Mr Murdoch has declined to comment. On Friday night, a Downing Street spokesman said Mr Sunak and Mr Murdoch did not talk that day, but declined to comment on other conversations that allegedly took place.

It is understood that those who discussed the potential resignation with Mr Sunak included Lord Hague and Lord Finkelstein. Both are columnists on The Times, which is owned by Mr Murdoch.

The Telegraph has also established that the former chancellor talked through his plan to resign with Mas Siddiqui, an old friend and former colleague who is a director at Mr Murdoch’s News Corp in New York.

Whether a message of advice or support directly from Mr Murdoch to Mr Sunak was passed via a third party is not known.