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On a frosty night in February, Theresa May rattled her donation tin around the Evolution venue in the heart of London’s Battersea Park.

She hoped guests at the annual Black and White Ball would top up Tory Party coffers enough to withstand a tough local election campaign - with maybe enough left over in case the party needed to fight another campaign this year.

Among the guests in the sprawling, modern banqueting hall was an unassuming blonde-haired lady, who only a handful of the Tory great and good in the room would recognise.

But Theresa May does know Lubov Chernukhin, and on Monday was photographed enjoying a boozy ’girl’s night out’ with her at a lavish London hotel.

(Image: Peter Macdiarmid/LNP)

And despite her relative anonymity, Mrs Chernukhin has been written about at length in recent years - largely because of her activities at the Black and White Ball.

Mrs Chernukhin, who is married to ex-Russian deputy finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin, is a big fan of the fundraiser’s live auction.

Guests at the bash pay up to £15,000 for a table - and the chance to dine with a member of the Cabinet and bid in a private auction.

Previous years have seen wealthy backers splash their cash on a shoe shopping trip with Theresa May herself, an 'Iron Man Experience' with Iain Duncan Smith and dinner with Michael Gove and his wife Sarah Vine.

And Mrs Chernukhin, herself a banker, has made a string of high profile auction bids in previous years, purchasing private access to senior ministers.

Last year the Tories accepted her bid of £30,000 in return for a private dinner with defence secretary Gavin Williamson in the Churchill War Rooms.

(Image: PA)

She successfully bid £160,000 at a previous Black and White Ball to play tennis with Boris Johnson, and also £20,000 to dine with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson in Edinburgh.

And this year Mrs Chernukhin sat with Theresa May and other top politicians at the Goring Hotel, in Belgravia, London, after donating £135,000 at the Ball.

For the first time, the 2019 Black and White Ball brochure noted there would be "two surprise political prizes" on offer at the fundraiser.

The note read: "These incredibly unique prizes will be at the end of the Live Auction".

It's thought Monday's night out was one of the two prizes. The Mirror revealed in February that an unnamed donor had paid at least £75,000 for the other surprise lot, a private night at the Proms with the Prime Minister.

The note read: "These incredibly unique prizes will be at the end of the Live Auction".

The Conservative Party say Mrs Chernukhin, who has donated more than £1million to the party since 2011, is not a Putin 'crony'.

Vladimir Chernukhin served as Mr Putin's deputy finance minister in the early 2000s, although the Conservative Party said he had fallen out of favour with the President.

Responding to Mrs Chernukhin’s attendence at the Balck and White Ball in February, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “The Conservative Party does not accept foreign donations – as they are illegal.

“All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law.”

A Tory source added: "Ms Lubov Chernukhin has lived in Britain for many years and is a British citizen, which gives her the democratic right to donate to a political party."