Conservative party donors are being put on a secret “advisory council” with access to ministers and advisors in return to large donations, it has been revealed.

O Sunday Times relatórios that property tycoons, hedge fund managers, and a Russian banker are among a secret club of donors to be given access to government.

The board has 14 regular members, most of whom have given at least £250,000 to the Tory Party as part of a supposedly “transactional arrangement”, the newspaper says.

The members of the board have a combined wealth of at least £30 billion when their companies and families are taken into account.

In total the group, which includes four billionaires, have donated £22 million to the Tory Party, £10 million of which came under Mr Johnson’s leadership.

Members invited to advisory board meetings reportedly used their access to lobby the government directly on Covid-19 strategy and procurement, and received help and advice applying for public appointments. Others are said to have lobbied against higher taxes for the ultra-rich.

A Conservative spokesman said: “We can confirm that, Em ocasião, senior Conservative politicians, just like senior Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians, do in fact attempt to raise funds for the party they represent.”

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Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Party, disse: “These revelations raise serious national security questions about the cash-for-access culture that Boris Johnson has created at the heart of government.

“The prime minister appointed Ben Elliot as cochairman of the Conservative Party, he sanctioned the creation of a secret club of super-rich donors that gets privileged access to ministers, and he has chosen time and again to turn a blind eye to unacceptable conflicts of interest. This is on him.

“Boris Johnson must explain what donors with links to Putin’s Russia got in return for their six-figure annual membership fee and clarify whether these meetings had any impact on government policy at the height of the pandemic.”