BY DAY he is known to hundreds of pupils as plain old “Mr Smith” — headmaster of a typical secondary school in the working-class London suburb of Dagenham.

Come the evening, Des Smith takes on a more high-powered role, wooing some of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen over dinner in the capital’s most exclusive restaurants on behalf of Tony Blair.

His taped conversations in meetings with an undercover Sunday Times reporter may yet have a crucial bearing on Blair’s legacy and the reputations of some of new Labour’s most senior figures.

Last November the reporter approached the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, set up to attract potential sponsors to Blair’s flagship education project.

Sir Cyril Taylor, its chairman, was in charge of the drive to attract wealthy backers to pay £2m each to turn struggling inner-city schools into gleaming new “city academies”.

The reporter told Taylor’s office that she represented a businessman interested in sponsoring an academy. The businessman was, in fact, a second undercover reporter using the name Malcolm Johnson.

Within weeks the reporter found herself ushered in to a private room at Mosimann’s, an exclusive Knightsbridge restaurant in a converted church, and placed next to Smith, another member of the trust.

Around the table were powerful guests. They included Sir Michael Barber, former head of delivery at No 10, two multi-millionaire businessmen and two representatives of an American multinational. Also present was “academy sponsorship consultant” Rona Kiley, wife of Bob Kiley, former head of Transport for London.

Over sea bass and fine wines, Smith expounded the benefits of the academy programme. He then suggested continuing the discussion over champagne at his favourite bar in the heart of the City of London.

The next day Smith e-mailed the undercover reporter, known as “Claire”, to thank her for a “stimulating and enjoyable” evening. “I would be very happy to facilitate a meeting with Malcolm [the fictitious sponsor] to discuss the issues of sponsoring an academy.”

A few weeks later, at another top London restaurant, Johnson and Claire met Taylor. Over lunch he explained that Smith would be the perfect choice for Johnson to develop his academy project. But what was the payback, Johnson wanted to know.

“There’s no question that sponsors of academies have access, they get invited to No 10, meet the secretary of state and people like that,” said Taylor, who is the rare recipient of two knighthoods — one from the Tories and the other from Labour.

“Some people say, ‘I’m going to buy a knighthood by doing this,’ but I think they should not think that at all because, first of all, that’s a form of corruption.

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