Peter Cruddas gave Tories £500,000 three days after becoming a Lord

A Tory donor ennobled by Boris Johnson against advice of the appointments committee has since given £500,000 to his party, it has emerged.

According to the Electoral Commission records, Lord Cruddas donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party on Feb 5, three days after he took his seat in the House of Lords.

The donation, which was the second largest given by an individual in the first quarter of 2021, was suggested by Labour to have been connected to the Prime Minister's decision to hand the former party treasurer a peerage.

Mr Johnson sparked criticism in January after brushing aside objections by the upper chamber's Appointments Commission to give the Brexit-backer a place in the Lords.

The vetting body had raised "historic concerns" about the City financier, which related to allegations published in The Sunday Times in 2013, that he offered access to former prime minister David Cameron in exchange for donations.

Mr Cruddas denied the claim, which was found to be true by the Court of Appeal following a libel case.

The court found another allegation against Mr Cruddas made by The Sunday Times to be untrue.

The six-figure donation was accepted by the Conservative party three days after being made and was reported to the commission on April 27.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner tweeted: "What do the Tories do for a man forced to resign in disgrace amidst allegations of cash for access to government ministers?

"They put him in the House of Lords with a life peerage and he coincidentally gives the Tories half a million quid."

Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: "Whether it's handing out taxpayers' money to their mates or giving peerages to disgraced donors, there is always one rule for the Conservatives and their chums and another for the rest of us."

However, a Conservative party spokesman said: "Donations to the Conservative Party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission and are published by them.

"Fundraising is a legitimate part of the democratic process: the alternative is more taxpayer-funding of political campaigning, which would mean less money for frontline services like schools, police and hospitals, or else, being in the pocket of union barons, like the Labour Party."

Meanwhile, the commission results showed that the largest donation between January and March was by William E Hampton, an English mechanic whose estate has paid out a further £800,000 to Sinn Fein.

It also recorded that former actor Laurence Fox, leader of the Reclaim party, received almost as much in donations as the Liberal Democrats for the same period. He received £1,153,300 in donations which was just below the Lib Dems’s £1,278,073.