The content of a Royal Air Force order to give priority places on training courses to female and ethnic minority recruits over white men can be revealed.

The instruction, dated 3 August 2022, aimed to “sequence inflow into our service” to improve diversity, according to a copy of the email, seen by Sky News.

It prompted Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl, then head of RAF recruitment, to resign in protest at what she deemed to be an “unlawful” order in breach of equality legislation.

In the end, it was never implemented.

The revelations came as pressure mounted on Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the head of the RAF, over the furore – described by MPs this week as a “dark chapter” for the service.

“The leadership team ignored the concerns of the staff and the clear and unambiguous legal advice which was provided,” a source within the RAF said.

“I have never seen such dissent within the service and such contempt for a Chief of Air Staff. The lack of respect and disdain makes his position untenable. In football terms, he has ‘lost the dressing room’.”

The 3 August email was sent to Group Captain Nicholl by Air Commodore Jo Lincoln, Assistant Chief of Staff Workforce Requirements and Recruiting, “on behalf of AVM [Air Vice-Marshal Maria] Byford”, the Chief of Staff Personnel.

It said Air Vice-Marshal Byford, one of the most senior female officers in the military, would like “any remaining women and EM [ethnic minorities] in those priority professions that are ready” to be among those loaded onto courses even if they were not first in line.

The email concluded: “The RAF is committed to increasing diversity and hence we need to sequence inflow into our service.”

Addressing the Chief of the Air Staff about the scandal on Wednesday, Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, called the order a “formal directive from the top”.

He listed the chain of command, with Group Captain Nicholl receiving the instruction from Air Commodore Lincoln, who was ordered by Air Vice-Marshal Byford, “who I am guessing was ordered by her boss, the head of the air force, which I think is you”.

Air Chief Marshal Wigston avoided responding directly, saying that an inquiry into the Group Captain’s resignation was continuing and its findings had yet to be shared with him.

But he did admit that mistakes had been made when placing recruits onto initial training courses in 2021, with a “limited number” of women and ethnic minorities fast-tracked ahead of their white male counterparts.

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He put the number at around 150 personnel, although denied that any illegal discrimination had taken place.

Mr Ellwood said the number was around 160.

The source within the RAF described Air Chief Marshal Wigston’s comments – repeated in a tweet on the RAF’s Twitter account – as “cringeworthy” and unconvincing.

Air Chief Marshal Wigston, in his Twitter statement posted on Thursday, said: “At no point did the RAF recruitment process select ethnic minority and female pilots over better qualified white pilots. Over 80% of our recruits during the period in question were white men.

“The error, which we have corrected and apologise for, was fast-tracking approximately 150 women and ethnic minority recruits, who had already passed all selection standards, onto earlier initial training courses.”

The error, though, only referred to the preferential treatment given to women and ethnic minorities in 2020-to-2021. It did not address the attempt at doing the same in 2022. Nor did it clarify who was ultimately responsible for the 3 August order.

A spokesperson for the RAF said it would be inappropriate to comment further while the inquiry is going on.

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