Martyn Thomas, the Rugby Football Union's acting chief executive, became the latest victim of the bloodletting that has beset Twickenham this year when it was announced that he would next month sever his many ties with the governing body, while a review he last month commissioned into England's poor World Cup campaign was aborted.

Thomas, who was widely criticised by a report commissioned by the RFU earlier this year for his part in the sacking of John Steele as the union's chief executive in the summer, will stand down as acting chief executive when his contract runs out on 16 December. He will not take up his place as chairman of England Rugby 2015 the following month and he will relinquish his positions on the International Rugby Board, the Six Nations Committee and European Rugby Cup Ltd.

The 67-year old Thomas said he was standing down for family reasons, but he went into Wednesday's monthly meeting of the board of directors determined to ride out an attempt by more than 100 clubs to force him out. It was when it became clear that he had lost the support of his fellow directors that he agreed to go. The RFU hopes to announce Steele's successor on 16 December, Thomas's last day in office, although the successful candidate is not expected to start work until after the end of the Six Nations campaign. The union's chief financial officer, Stephen Brown, will take over as acting chief executive.

One of Thomas's final acts was to last month commission Fran Cotton, a former member of the RFU, to conduct an inquiry into the World Cup campaign, a move that angered the England management, players, clubs and some board members because it was made without reference to the professional game board, the joint body that looks after the game at the top, or the entire board.

The board of directors, accepting that the inquiry would not get very far because so many key figures would not take part, abandoned it and instead set up a review to ensure "the best performance systems are in place going towards the 2015 World Cup". What that means for the England team manager, Martin Johnson, whose contract runs out at the end of the year, remains to be determined and it is still not clear who will decide his future.

The loss of his role for the 2015 World Cup will be keenly felt by Thomas. When the Blackett inquiry panel reported its findings into the Steele affair, it recommended that Thomas be stripped of all his roles except the chairmanship of England Rugby 2015, recognising the part he had played in securing the hosting rights for the RFU and the regard he was held in by the tournament organisers.

But by fighting the report's recommendations, and threatening to sue Blackett if the report was published, along with any members of the RFU council who voted for publication, it became a case of all or nothing for him. He survived two votes of no confidence in council meetings and had the support of a majority of the board, but militant clubs were not prepared to let the Blackett recommendations collect dust and were ready to call a special general meeting to take votes of no confidence in Thomas and the board if he survived yesterday's Wednesday's meeting.

"It has been an honour to be part of the union, most particularly for the past six months as acting chief executive where I have been lucky enough to get to know better the RFU staff who work tirelessly for the good of the game," Thomas said. "I feel that now is the right time to spend more time with my family. As a result I have decided not to renew my contract at its conclusion in December."

The clubs will now not be calling for a special general meeting. "The right decision has been made: it is only a pity that it took so long," one rebel said. "The council should have acted on the Blackett recommendations immediately but too many of its members, along with the board, were spineless. It has cost us."

The RFU's governance will be shaken up in the coming months. Two independent nonexecutive directors have this week been appointed to the board and a report by a firm of solicitors into the way the union should be run will be considered by the council next month.