Actions taken by executives at Thomas Cook will come under the spotlight as part of an investigation in the collapse of the firm.

Business secretary, Andrea Leadsom, has asked the official receiver to look at whether bosses’ actions “caused detriment to creditors or to the pension schemes”.

The official receiver oversees liquidations.

The request came amid criticism over executive salaries at the firm.

Top directors at the holiday company have been paid a combined £20 million in salaries and bonuses since 2014.

Leadsom requested the “investigation by the official receiver looks, not only at the conduct of directors immediately prior to and at insolvency, but also at whether any action by directors has caused detriment to creditors or to the pension schemes”.

At the same time, prime minister Boris Johnson has questioned whether directors should pay themselves “large sums of money” as their businesses go “down the tubes”.

“I think the questions we have got to ask ourselves now: how can this thing be stopped from happening in the future?

“How can we make sure that tour operators take proper precautions with their business models where you don not end up with a situation where the taxpayer, the state, is having to step in and bring people home?”

The Civil Aviation Authority is currently in the process of repatriating 150,000 British holidaymakers who were left overseas following the collapse of the company early on Monday morning.