Boris Johnson was accused of being a "threat to national security" today amid revelations he attended a Tory Party fundraising event on the night Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Prime Minister spoke at the event with fine wine, food and an auction on February 28 as Vladimir Putin ’s forces prepared to launch their assault.
Donors at the bash included Lubov Chernukhin, the banker and wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister, according to the Sunday Times.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove were also at the event, it was claimed.
The Prime Minister reportedly asked donors to keep funding the party, before saying he had to leave to “deal with the war”.
Downing Street said he was present for only 20 minutes and was alerted to the invasion only at 4am, a few hours later.
But Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: "On the eve of war the Prime Minister should have been completely focused on national security - not trying to get cash from the wife of Putin's former finance minister.
“Boris Johnson's party has accepted over £6.5million from donors linked to Putin's murderous regime.
“He should be cleaning up our politics, not courting these people for more money.
“ Boris Johnson is a threat to national security."
According to the Sunday Times the event was held at Spencer House, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, which bills itself as “London's most magnificent 18th-century aristocratic palace available to hire for exclusive London events”.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister briefly attended this event which was a longstanding diary engagement. Fundraising is a legitimate part of our democratic process and it is not unusual for the Prime Minister, or any political leader, to attend such an event.”
Tory chiefs have faced repeated demands for more transparency in the way they treat big-money donors to the party.
Those who give more than £50,000 can join a ‘Leader’s Group’ where they enjoy off-the-books meetings with ministers. The government says the arrangement is entirely legal.
Attendees at Leader’s Group dinners started being published after a row involving the fundraising techniques of former Tory chairman Peter Cruddas in 2012.
But the Tories stopped publishing these details under Boris Johnson, who made Lord Cruddas a peer against the advice of the House of Lords appointments process.
Conservative chiefs have also set up an even more elite ‘Advisory Board’ for those who donate £250,000, but refuse to say what level of access they enjoy to ministers.
Lubov Chernukhin, whose husband Vladimir served as deputy finance minister to President Putin before coming to the UK, has repeatedly paid for access to successive Prime Ministers ministers, including a cosy night out with Theresa May and a tennis match with Boris Johnson.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Ms Chernukhin, who is a British citizen and has been legally entitled to make political donations since 2012.
She made recent donations to the Tories of £13,750 in October and £66,500 in December.
The Mirror understands the first payment was for a table at the party’s notorious Black and White Ball fundraiser, where wealthy benefactors can rub shoulders with senior ministers and MPs while Boris Johnson rattles his donation tin to bolster party coffers.
The second donation is understood to be a successful bid in the event’s auction, where the party sells access to cabinet ministers to the highest bidder.
In total Ms Chernukhin has given almost £2 million to the party - and is the biggest female political donor in British history.
A Tory spokesman said: “From Salisbury to Ukraine, this Conservative government has been resolute in standing up to Russian aggression and has led international efforts against Russia from the off and it is frankly risible for The Sunday Times to suggest otherwise.
“This was a longstanding engagement. Fundraising is a legitimate part of our democratic process, a process that shouldn’t be stopped because of Putin.
“The Sunday Times suggestion that people who have been vocal critics of Putin and in some instances have had to flee Russia are linked to that regime simply by means of their heritage is wholly wrong.”
