MICHAEL BROWN, the Glasgow-born wheeler-dealer, leant back in his chair, coffee in hand, and grimaced before explaining why Charles Kennedy was not ready to lead Britain.

“In time, Charles would make a good prime minister. But not now, I don’t think he’s ready. The prime minister needs to be a statesman, doesn’t he? And with what happened at last week’s Liberal Democrat conference, I really don’t know,” he said.

The words of this self-educated multi-millionaire will embarrass the Liberal Democrat leader, for Mr Brown is the mysterious backer who gave Britain’s third party £2.4 million this year.

In his first interview since The Times revealed that his donation was being investigated by the Electoral Commission for possibly breaking party funding rules, Mr Brown accused the Lib Dems of being underhanded by trying to distance themselves from him. “The way they have handled it is farcical and their responses to inquiries have been ridiculous. They should have been up-front and honest. Instead, they have tried to keep me at arm’s length. I am the one who has given them a lot of money and let me say this: do not hang out to dry the guy who is trying to back you,” he said.

The Electoral Commission is examining if Mr Brown’s donations from his company 5th Partners broke laws preventing political parties from taking foreign money. The cash came from a Swiss holding company and Mr Brown does not vote or live in Britain.

Mr Brown, a teetotal son of a whisky distillery executive, said that, contrary to speculation, he had had regular contact with several leading Lib Dems since making the donation between February and March this year.

Speaking from a charity golf tournament held near his home on Majorca, he said: “The Lib Dems asked me about the donation and my Swiss company. I told them everything: that I have a company in the UK, that it’s registered and everything is above board. I told them that I am a non-resident in the UK and I don’t vote and I told them that the money would come from the UK company. I told them that the company was registered and will in future pay tax in the UK.

“I was not aware of the rules regarding electoral funding because I left it to them. And what a cock-up they’ve made of it,” he said.

Mr Brown, who this weekend organised the charity event to raise £500,000 to restore an Ethiopian village, said that the adverse publicity would be used to raise money for his favourite causes.

Mr Brown, 39, who is married with no children, said that despite his misgivings about Mr Kennedy’s leadership, one day he would mature.

“I think he is a good guy. In time he could be a good leader. I’ve met him maybe four times and really like him,” he said.

He has a less favourable opinion of Lord Razzle, the party’s campaign chief who last week accused Mr Brown of “sounding off” over the donation. “I sound off for just reasons. And in this case the party has behaved in a shocking manner,” he said.

The former events manager and delivery man said that he was not surprised that others had doubts over his motives. “I don’t come across as your archetypal funder who comes out of the woodwork. But I am an avid historian and I believe at the turn of last century the Liberals were the best political party in the whole world.”

Those suspicious of Mr Brown had pointed to his scrape with the law. In 1995 he was arrested in the US for signing three bounced cheques and had to be bailed by his father. Mr Brown said that he regretted the incident and cringed as he explained what happened.

“I was penniless and was eating noodles at public supermarkets where you can get packs of four for a dollar. At Publix, a big supermarket chain, I wrote three cheques that bounced. I needed to eat and did it. It was wrong, I hold my hands up.”

Other critics question how a man who failed his maths O-level has now amassed millions of pounds over the last ten years. This was done, he said, through a series of real estate deals in Florida.

“I have made a lot of money because I got involved in decent real estate in 1996, 1997 and 1998. I went from driving a Ford Escort with 100,000 miles on the clock and delivering Auto Trader magazines to making it in a year,” he said.

Despite stating that “his fingers have been burnt” by the Lib Dems over the past few weeks, he does not rule out backing the party in the future. “I will look at supporting the Lib Dems for as long as Charles Kennedy is the leader. I invest in people, not parties.”

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