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Seemingly dubious Tory fundraising will be exposed in a damning TV documentary tonight.

Channel Four’s Dispatches will reveal undercover footage of how senior Conservatives behaved at a private fundraising event.

Reporters used secret cameras to show how top party figures try to drum up cash for an election warchest.

Preview footage from ‘How To Buy A Meeting With A Minister’ has already caused the resignation of one Lib Dem peer pending an inquiry.

Lord Strasburger - who denies any wrongdoing - was filmed apparently advising an undercover donor how to channel gifts through his “stepfather”.

And yesterday Deputy PM Nick Clegg was dragged into the row.

(Image: Getty)

New footage showed the Lib Dem leader telling a potential donor he could stagger his gifts to the party over two years - seemingly to avoid having his name put in the public domain.

Mr Clegg and Lord Strasburger are shown with entrepreneur Paul Wilmott - who was secretly helping Channel Four - at a reception in Bath.

The peer is seen telling the Lib Dem leader: “Paul is trying to find a way to support us without sticking his head too far above the parapet.

“We’re working out how to involve his family in making donations.”

Mr Clegg replies: “A very useful thing as well - it’s not a financial year calendar, it’s an end of year calendar, so you can do things either side.

“But thank you very much for the support you give, it is much needed and will be very well used.”

According to electoral law, a party must identify donors if they give a political party more than £7,500 in a calendar year.

It is illegal to attempt to deceive the commission about the source of a donation.

A Lib Dem statement said Mr Clegg had “behaved entirely correctly” and that senior members of every political party attend fundraising events and assist in raising money.

“It is perfectly normal when presented with someone who is considering making a donation to explain the rules as you state Nick Clegg did in your film,” the statement said.

The statement added that the party had run the “usual compliance checks” on the gift and concluded it was from an eligible donor.

“The Federal Party had no reason to believe that the donation was made other than by the person named on the cheque,” it said.