Camerlot confidential: The big money barons and brokers at the court of King Cameron

While all eyes have been on Labour's loans for lordships scandal, it has been business as usual in the Tories' push for financial power and influence. Francis Elliott reports

On Tuesday afternoon - while Tony Blair celebrated his final speech to conference as Labour Party leader - David Cameron was preparing to address a very different audience.

The venue was the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair, the dress code formal evening wear. Mr Cameron, who does his best to avoid black tie, made an exception for the 400 invited guests, who were waiting expectantly for him amid the cigar smoke and brandy balloons.

But then this was an event attended by a high-rolling group of donors, and since some had paid £50,000 for the privilege of hearing the Tory leader speak, he wasn't about to disappoint them.

Tony Blair's cash-for-peerages scandal has - for the most part - obscured the Tories' own funding arrangements behind the parade of Labour donors, officials and even peers who have marched in and out of police interviews. But Mr Cameron has been quietly overseeing a new fundraising operation that aims to fill the party's coffers ahead of the next general election.

His aides deny flatly that there is anything secret about the elite donors' club that met on Tuesday night. They point out that both the club, named the Leader's Group, and its events are heavily advertised in mailshots to ordinary members.

The Conservatives won't tell us who is a member but they do say that around 50 wealthy businessmen belong to the club, which helps to bring in around £2m a year once the costs of arranging the various events it hosts are deducted.

Privately, Mr Cameron's aides argue that - far from being some sinister attempt to sell access to the leader for cash - it is actually a way of reducing and not increasing the influence of the rich over the Tory leadership.

During its long years in opposition, the Conservative Party has became ever more dependent on a handful of wealthy businessmen who have stayed with the sinking ship.

But with its finances perched on such a narrow base, the Tories were prey to accusations that a clutch of rich men held an unhealthy amount of clout over the leadership. Michael Ashcroft became a source of particular controversy under William Hague's leadership when he served as the party's treasurer. But he fell out spectacularly with a number of the party's dynastic figures, who suspected him of wielding undue influence. Despite being the Tories' biggest donor, Lord Ashcroft, who was ennobled by Mr Hague, infuriated Michael Howard when he gave around £2m to what amounted to a private campaign among marginal seats.

Mr Cameron made Lord Ashcroft a deputy chairman and the peer still provides occasional trips in his private plane for frontbench Tories. (His jet flew Mr Cameron to Prague and back last March, for example.) But insiders say that a new class of donor - people who are loyal to Mr Cameron personally as well as politically - is gradually supplanting the old guard.

The new breed is typified by Andrew Feldman, who met Mr Cameron at Oxford and remains a close friend. It was Mr Feldman who oversaw the fundraising during his leadership bid last year and it is Mr Feldman who organises the Leader's Group.

Unlike many of Mr Cameron's inner circle, he is not an Old Etonian but went to school in Elstree and runs the family clothing firm, Jayroma. He had never held political office until he was made deputy treasurer and his remit is to broaden the party's funding base, as well as its electoral appeal.

There is little that is stuffy or secretive about this new breed of donor. At Mr Feldman's recent 40th birthday party in an exclusive nightclub in South Kensington, the theme was "bling".

Howard Leigh, who is managing director of Cavendish Corporate Finance and who helps to organise the Leader's Group, set the tone with what was described at the time as a "purple and zebra combo". He sported a dollar medallion, he said, because "I'm a senior Tory treasurer."

Asked about the elite group, Mr Leigh said: "Perhaps £50,000 sounds like a lot of money but, for the people who give, it is a small part of their total wealth. The objective is to have no large donations."

Beneath the Leader's Group is a host of less prestigious donor associations: the Two Thousand Club (entry fee £2,000), the Front Bench Club (entry fee £5,000) and the Renaissance Forum (for which donors are asked to part with £10,000 a year).

Other key figures include Jonathan Green, who also flew Mr Cameron to and from Prague in his private jet when the leader revisited the Czech capital in June. Entering Mr Green's support on the register of MPs' interests, the Tory leader describes him as a "retired businessman from London" which, while accurate, omits the fact that, at 42, he has a £160m stake in Europe's largest hedge fund and is said to have property in Monaco.

Mr Green is one of a number of nouveau hedge-fund plutocrats brought in as part of the new fundraising operation. Many of them are around the same age as Mr Cameron. Interestingly, Mr Green is also a backer of the City Academy programme, serving as a governor of Harefield Academy. It is expected that Mr Cameron will attend an event at the school in the near future.

Another important City figure who, with Messrs Green and Feldman, backed Mr Cameron from the start is Michael Spencer, head of Intercapital. Mr Spencer flew the Tory leader to India for his recent visit, and is seen by some as likely to take over from Lord Marland as the party's treasurer.

There is one significant point about the annual £50,000 fee for joining the Leader's Group: it will be the maximum allowed under Mr Cameron's proposals to the official review on party funding that is being overseen by Sir Hayden Phillips.

Mr Feldman believes that donations greater than this would open the party to the same sort of allegations that have dogged Labour. But for some, the mere presence of the very rich around politicians raises uncomfortable questions in the wake of the cash-for-peerages scandal.

Already, some of Mr Cameron's backers have been the subject of unflattering press attention. It has been pointed out, for example, that the property mogul Firoz Kassam, who gave £10,000 to Mr Cameron's leadership campaign, made some of his fortune providing accommodation to asylum seekers. Mr Kassam is also a former owner of Oxford United Football Club.

Another property millionaire and backer of the Tory leader, Trevor Pears, recently forced two newspapers to carry corrections to reports on his business dealings.

Then there is the lingering issue of the "secret lenders" - the group of wealthy individuals whom some believed to be resident abroad - who lent the party a total of around £5m. Mr Cameron over-ruled those advisers who urged him to name the lenders, preferring instead to pay them back and keep their names secret.

The Independent on Sunday revealed that one of these figures was Christopher Moran, who was expelled from Lloyds for "discreditable conduct" in 1982. Far from being embarrassed about its association with Mr Moran, the Tory party made him a director of C&UCO Properties Ltd, the party's property arm. The firm also owns the lease to the Tories' former headquarters, 32 Smith Square.

But Mr Cameron may yet be required to reveal the names of the secret lenders. The Electoral Commission has suspended its investigation into the Tory loans until the police have concluded their investigation. However, it is understood the commission will press hard for the Conservatives to come clean on the issue of the secret loans, regardless of whether formal charges are to be brought.

A spokesman for the party last night confirmed it still owed £16m to individuals. The party insists that these loans were all taken on a commercial basis and that, therefore, they do not count as political donations. This claim is also under investigation by the police, however.

The story of the "secret club" of businessmen who pay £50,000 to dine with the Tory leader was oversold. But it should serve as a sharp reminder to Mr Cameron and his new team of fundraisers just how careful they need to be in filling the war chests for the coming election.

"There's been a danger that the Conservative Party has been seen too much as just standing for whatever big business wants. I didn't go into politics to be the mouthpiece for big business," David Cameron wrote last month. His remark is likely to have irritated many of the traditional high-rolling Tory donors of the past. They are among his leading critics on the issue of tax and are pressing for a clear commitment to "roll back the Blairite state". Mr Cameron's aides say that he is determined to resist this pressure and the forthcoming shake-up of party funding gives the Tory leader a unique opportunity to wean the Conservatives off their dependence on big business for its cash.

He should seize the chance with both hands. After all, it was not so long ago that a young, popular leader was riding a popular wave of disgust against political sleaze and promising to clean up politics. Almost a decade later, Mr Blair faces the police, accused of selling peerages for cash.

CAMERON'S COURT

Firoz Kassam

Tanzanian-born entrepreneur who started with a Brixton fish-and-chip shop before making millions in Londonhotel property. He made an estimated £3m-a-year profit providing accommodation for 500 asylum seekers.

Howard Leigh

Head of Cavendish Corporate Finance, Mr Leigh is helping to find a new generation of Tory donors. He donned a purple-and-zebra outfit with a dollar medallion for Andrew Feldman's 'bling-themed' 40th birthday party.

Michael Spencer

A City star who spotted David Cameron's potential early and has backed the new leader to the hilt. Mr Spencer has repeatedly lent his private plane to the Tory leader. He is tipped by some as a future party treasurer.

David Cameron

Mr Cameron is no stranger to wealth - his own background is moneyed. The new Tory leader has said he 'didn't go into politics to be the mouthpiece for big business'. Has so far refused to name the 'secret lenders' who provide funds for his party.

Michael Ashcroft

By far the single biggest donor to the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft has given it £6.5m. He was close to the former leader William Hague but had an uneasy relationship with Mr Hague's successor, Michael Howard. He was made a deputy chairman by David Cameron.

Andrew Feldman

Messrs Cameron and Feldman once organised a May Ball together at Oxford University. Now the textiles boss dons his black tie in the service of raising cash to help get his old university friend into No 10. He is attempting to broaden the Conservative Party's funding base.

Christopher Moran

A key Tory supporter. He throws his London home, Crosby Hall, open for Conservative Party events and was recently made a director of the Tories' property company, C&UCO Properties Ltd. He was expelled from Lloyds in 1982 for 'discreditable conduct'.