An investigation by The Times shows that at least 25 of the 292 peers created by Mr Blair since 1996 have made donations ranging from £6,000 to £13 million. Two of the most generous are now ministers.

The investigation confirms that Mr Blair has been the biggest dispenser of political patronage in the Lords since life peerages were created in 1958. The 292 peers he has created in eight and a half years compare with 216 by Margaret Thatcher in her 11 years in Downing Street and John Major’s 171 in seven years. Labour is the largest party in the Lords for the first time.

Other benefactors such as Christopher Ondaatje, who gave £2 million, and Ronald Cohen, the venture capitalist (£350,000), have received knighthoods.

In 1996, when John Major was criticised by Labour for abusing the honours system by rewarding donors, Swarj Paul was made a Labour peer. He gave £109,000 that year and a further £200,000 later.

In 1997, when Mr Blair became Prime Minister, six donors were elevated. They included Michael Levy, a music industry tycoon, who raised £7 million to bankroll Mr Blair in opposition. He is now Mr Blair’s unofficial treasurer and unofficial ambassador to the Middle East.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville, who has given about £13 million since 1994, when Mr Blair became Labour leader, has been a minister since 1998. He gave £2 million this year.

Other donors made peers included Ruth Rendell, the crime writer (£15,000), David Puttnam, the Oscar-winning film director, (£25,000), and Michael Montague, a businessman who died in 1999 (£1 million).

Paul Drayson donated £100,000 in 2001 and his company won a £32 million smallpox vaccine contract from the Government the next year. In 2004 he was made a peer. He handed over £1 million in the same year. In May this year Lord Drayson was made Defence Minister.

A peerage was given in 1998 to Paul Hamlyn, the publisher, who gave £600,000 before 1997. Lord Hamlyn, who died in 2001, left Labour £1 million in his will. Lord Haskins, the chairman of Northern Foods, donated £79,000. He was expelled from the party this year for giving £2,500 to a Liberal Democrat candidate. Waheed Alli, the multimillionaire founder of Planet 24 Television, made free party political films worth an estimated £100,000.

Peter Facey, director of the New Politics Network think-tank, which specialises in party political funding, said: “Every time new appointments to the Lords are announced public trust is eroded more. People have every right to be cynical about a system where major party donors are repeatedly elevated to a place in the legislature where they can directly influence the law.”

In 1999 the list was led by the businessman Robert Gavron, 69, who gave £500,000 to Labour weeks after he was made a peer, having given £500,000 in 1996. Others included Melvyn Bragg, who helped to raise £79,000 for Mr Blair’s Labour leadership campaign. He has given £32,500. The barrister Peter Goldsmith made a donation in 1996. He became Attorney-General in 2001.

In 2001 the only Labour life peers were retiring MPs and there were no further appointments until 2004.

In the 2005 list, which was revealed in The Times last week, Sir David Garrard, a property developer, is the biggest surprise. He gave £70,000 to the Tories under William Hague. But in 2004 he changed sides and gave £200,000 to Labour. He invested £2.4 million in Mr Blair’s city academies’ project. Sir Gulan Noon, who made his fortune selling ready-cooked curries to supermarkets, donated £225,000. Chai Patel, the head of the Priory rehabilitation clinic, gave £10,000.

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