Senior officials and lawyers in the child sex abuse inquiry had been threatening to make a declaration of no confidence in its chairwoman before she resigned abruptly last week.

According to sources in the inquiry, Dame Lowell Goddard quit after there was a “terminal” loss of confidence in her by her legal team.

She was also accused of behaving in an “autocratic” manner towards staff, being dismissive of the four panel members who sat with her and failing to grasp key legal issues.

Theresa May and Amber Rudd, her successor as home secretary, had been alerted to the problems developing…