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The lobbyist has been a Blair loyalist since the prime minister first decided to stand for the Labour leadership. In 1998 Donnelly was made leader of the Labour group of MEPs but resigned two years later.

He then founded Sovereign Strategy, which boasts that it offers “pathways to the decision makers in national governments” and provides “high-level briefings on domestic public policy”.

Such advice is invaluable to multinational firms seeking to do business in Britain and his clients include the Premier League, Siemens Business Services, Premier Waste Management and Formula One Management.

Last November Sovereign organised the “northeast economic forum” whose keynote speech was given by Blair. He was joined at the event by Miliband, Lord Adonis, an education minister, Peter Mandelson, the EU commissioner for trade, and Alan Milburn, a Blairite former cabinet minister.

Last month Donnelly organised a lunch hosted by Alan Johnson, then trade and industry secretary, who was also playing a crucial role in the government’s energy policy. Last year the firm persuaded Richard Caborn, the sports minister, to host a dinner at Durham County Cricket Club.

Caborn is a crucial contact for the firm’s sports clients and had two private meetings in 2004 and 2005 to discuss “motor sport” with Donnelly. The controversial “potential development” of Silverstone was also discussed.

Sovereign is unusual among lobbying firms in donating money to the Labour party. It began donating in 2002 and has since given at least 14 gifts totalling £77,573.

Another senior lobbyist said: “Most people are terrified of doing that as they don’t want to be accused of trying to buy access.”

Donnelly has also proved to be adept at hiring senior Labour figures as they leave government — most notably Lord Cunningham, former minister for the Cabinet Office. Lord Moonie, the former defence minister, and Milburn have also worked for the lobbyist.

Cunningham is central to Donnelly’s latest project — the Transatlantic Nuclear Energy Forum (Tanef). This was formed in September 2004 and shares the same offices and staff as Sovereign Strategy.

Its “legislative chair” is Cunningham, who is paid by Sovereign, and its “industry chair” is John Hopkins, the group president (government), of Fluor.

Fluor is one of Sovereign’s big clients and its chief executive introduced the prime minister’s speech at Donnelly’s northeast economic forum.

At the moment, multinational nuclear power firms are anxiously awaiting the government’s decision on the country’s future energy policy. Britain’s current nuclear plants will need to be replaced in 10 to 15 years, and the government must decide whether another generation of plants should be built.

The process of awarding £70 billion in government contracts to firms dealing with nuclear waste is set to begin next month. Fluor is expected to be a key bidder.

The prime minister is understood to be in favour of building a new generation of nuclear plants, which do not emit carbon dioxide and therefore do not add to global warming.

Last Friday Miliband gave the first indication that he was also in favour of nuclear power.

“The benefit of nuclear power is that it emits zero carbons, but obviously there are costs associated with nuclear power and there are also waste issues,” he said Blair wrote to Miliband later in the day saying that he wanted him to take control of the energy review, which is being handled by the Department of Trade and Industry.

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