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Gordon Brown has headhunted a leading Tory party donor to become his special envoy on the environment and climate change.

Johan Eliasch, a Swedish sportswear tycoon, had lent the Tories £2.6 million and was until last week the party's deputy treasurer.

It emerged today that when Mr Eliasch quit his party role, he had already been privately approached by Mr Brown. But when he went to Tory headquarters last Friday to resign as deputy treasurer he did not mention his new job offer.

His departure is the latest embarrassment for Mr Cameron in a week when Mr Brown, citing a return to consensus politics, has already recruited Tory MPs John Bercow and Patrick Mercer as advisers to the Government.

It is also a potential financial headache, if he decides to ask the Tories to repay his £2.6 million loan before the next General Election. The Times understands that Mr Eliasch will expect the money to be repaid under the terms agreed, but he is not demanding immediate repayment.

Mr Eliasch will now advise the Prime Minister on deforestation and green energy , but it is understood that he will not go so far as to join the Labour party. In a statement issued to the BBC, he said climate change was a non-party matter and he did not want to be involved in any political party. He will not renew his membership of the Conservative party when it lapses next month.

The London-based businessman has amassed a £355 million fortune from his Head sportswear business and is among the top 150 richest men in Britain according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He is known for using his personal fortune to buy large swathes of the Amazonian rainforest to save it from loggers.

“Climate change is my particular interest and I have already set up an organisation called Cool Earth to address this global issue," he said today.

“There is a universal agreement that climate change must be addressed so this is not a political party issue and therefore I shall not be a member of any political party during this important work.

“I look forward to a very challenging task and hope to make a real difference to both UK domestic policy and global policy.”

Before he resigned he was said to have complained privately to friends about Tory leader David Cameron’s supposed "lurch to the right" in policy making.

A Conservative Party spokesman tried to put a brave face on the departure. "Johan Eliasch made clear at the weekend he would stand down as a deputy treasurer to focus on green issues.

"On Monday it was announced that he was taking a role with the Government as an adviser on the environment. He has since decided not to renew his membership of the party."

Philip Webster, Political Editor of The Times, said: "It is another clever bit of work by Gordon Brown to embarrass the Conservatives.

"The Tories very much doubt the motives behind Mr Brown's consensus politics and fear that with every move he is seeking some political advantage, but there is no doubt he has got a lot of mileage out of it.

"He has now got two Tory MPs, Bercow and Mercer signed up to do government jobs. The Tories said they agreed to it but they could not have stopped it".

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