WITHIN days of taking office, new ministers can expect the letter to arrive. “I am delighted at your appointment,” reads one such note sent to a new culture minister five days after the 2005 general election.

“The prime minister has indicated that the historic third term will deliver a radical agenda, no more so [than] in the areas covered by your portfolio. I am sure you will rise to the challenges presented on this occasion.”

“Please do not hesitate to contact me if you feel that I can be of assistance in any way . . . Kind regards, Alan.”

The Alan who pens the letters is not a friendly government colleague but Alan Donnelly, executive chairman of Sovereign Strategy — the Blairite lobbyist of choice.

Donnelly, a former Labour MEP, has a contacts book that most lobbyists could only dream of and his “events” are attended by cabinet ministers up to and including Tony Blair himself.

The recipient of the letter seen by The Sunday Times was James Purnell, a former special adviser to Blair in Downing Street, who became an MP in 2001 and tourism minister last year. Purnell, a staunch Blairite, is typical of those whom Donnelly targets.

The lobbyist has made his name through his contacts with Blair and other senior Labour figures. However, it is his links to David Miliband, one of the prime minister’s protégés who was promoted to environment secretary in the recent reshuffle, that are now placing the lobbyist’s activities under scrutiny.

Donnelly is the chairman of Miliband’s constituency association and his firm recently helped to contribute towards the cost of refurbishing the minister’s constituency headquarters on Tyneside.

Yesterday Donnelly insisted that the money was used only to upgrade a kitchen in an area not rented directly by Miliband, but used by local Labour party workers.

Miliband’s office said that the whole building had been refurbished but the payment for this was a matter for the local constituency.

The local constituency incorrectly claimed that the work had been “paid for” by the South Shields Labour party.

The payment is an embarrassment for Miliband, who was charged on Friday by Blair with solving Britain’s impending energy crisis — a decision which looks set to hand billions of pounds in business to the nuclear industry, which Donnelly helps to represent.

Donnelly is the founder of an organisation which promotes the interests of the nuclear industry while Sovereign Strategy represents the Fluor Corporation, one of the world’s biggest nuclear companies.

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