GOVERNMENT Minister Simon Clarke has responded after being urged to “come clean” over donations from the Soviet-born businessman Alexander Temerko.

The MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland and Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government received two £5,000 donations, totalling £10,000, in June and July last year in the name of the energy company Aquind Ltd, which has a registered address in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

Mr Temerko, who says he is “no friend” of Vladimir Putin, has been a director of the firm since May 2016, according to Companies House.

Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham said: “Simon Clarke needs to come clean and detail any meetings or discussions he has had with his wealthy donor and how he is using the cash to further his own political ends.  

“His constituents need to know who his friends are.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Mr Clarke whether he had met Mr Temerko and what the nature of their relationship was.

Mr Clarke said in a statement: “Alexander Temerko is a British citizen and so entitled to support any party he chooses.

“All my donations are totally transparent and set out properly in my register of members’ interests.”

Several Tory MPs have been in the spotlight over donations from wealthy individuals with links to Russia following the publication of a report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee.

It warned about potential interference from Russia in British democracy and suggested that donors could be deployed to assist Vladimir Putin’s administration in Moscow.

Former Labour Minister Chris Bryant, during an urgent question on the report in the House of Commons, said the Government was “giving out golden visas to dodgy Russian oligarchs”.

The Times said 14 cabinet ministers had taken donations from individuals with links with Russia.

Mr Temerko had given Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis £23,000 and also made donations to former Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers and Shropshire MP Mark Pritchard.

It has been reported that in total he has made donations worth £1.3m to the Conservative Party.

Mr Clarke’s office said Mr Temerko was anti-Putin and the Government had previously stopped his extradition to Russia, because it was believed to be politically motivated.

Last year he denied claims he was a ‘Kremlin agent’ in an interview with The Guardian and said he was a well-known critic of the Russian-regime, and had condemned its invasion of Ukraine.

He also denied claims he had previously been the former chief of a Russian arms company.

Mr Temerko has his own website in which he describes himself as a British businessman and politician in the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors.

He is also described as being “actively engaged” in local associations in the North-East.

He received British citizenship in 2011 and has been a member and supporter of the Conservative Party since 2012.

Aquind is behind a £1.2bn project to link the British and French electricity grids through a power line which would be installed under the English Channel.

In 2017 it was announced that former Conservative MP for Stockton South, James Wharton, who also received donations from Mr Temerko, had been appointed in an advisory role by its board.

Mr Temerko is also a former deputy chairman and director of the Offshore Group Newcastle (OGN), which provided engineering and construction services to the offshore oil and gas and renewable energy industry.