Tom Ilube has stepped down as Rugby Football Union chairman amid controversy over the organisation’s executive bonuses, with Sir Bill Beaumont appointed as interim chair.

Ilube’s departure pre-empted the possibility of a grassroots rebellion forcing him out over the scale of bonuses.

Former World Rugby chair Beaumont, 72, has stepped in pending the appointment of a permanent replacement.

Ilube, who was appointed in August 2021, faced the possibility of a vote of no confidence in his leadership as a motion to sack him gathered support among England’s community clubs.

However, a group of co-opted members of the RFU Council – appointed to make the governing body more inclusive – have expressed their “anger and distress” Ilube has been “forced out”, blaming “bullying, entitlement and elitism”.

In a scathing email sent to the Council’s full membership on Friday – and seen by the BBC – they claimed the game had “lost a champion of our sport and importantly for us all, a leader in diversity of thought and lived experience”.

Ilube was England’s first black chair of a major sport.

The RFU chairman is the only permanent member of the body’s remuneration committee which oversees the pay awarded to all employees on a basic salary of more than £180,000 a year.

“I have decided to step down from my role as chair of the RFU as recent events have become a distraction from the game but will stay on to ensure a smooth transition to a new chair as soon as one is in place,” said Ilube, 61.

Beaumont, a Grand Slam-winning England captain in his playing days, said: “I am honoured to be taking on the role on an interim basis and would like to pay tribute to the great work and passion of Tom Ilube.

“We now must look forward and I hope I can help to unite the game and drive forward the game of rugby in England at both an international level and in the community game.”

The RFU’s latest accounts, published in November, revealed chief executive Bill Sweeney had been paid a total of £1.1m as the organisation posted record losses.

Sweeney was paid £430,000 in 2020 – his first full year in the role – when he took a voluntary 20% pay cut for three months and opted not to take a bonus to limit financial pressure during the pandemic.

However, a three-year incentive plan put in place in 2021, which offered the possibility of large rewards if the RFU’s performance hit certain goals, sent his pay to seven figures.

The RFU’s record losses came two months after it announced its latest round of redundancies.