People who make large donations to political parties expect to gain influence and shape future policy, and it is "absolutely natural and unobjectionable" for them to do so, a major donor to the Conservative party said today.

Stuart Wheeler, who at one point made a single donation of £5m, called for the cap on donations to be lifted and dismissed allegations that the big donor culture had made politics less fair. "Fairness isn't the be all and end all," he said.

He also claimed it was an assault on the freedom of the wealthy to prevent them spending their money as they pleased.

Wheeler, a spread-betting tycoon who provided large donations to the Tories under William Hague in the early 2000s, has since fallen out with the party. A fervent Eurosceptic, he was expelled last year after donating £200,000 to Ukip. Earlier this year he formed the Trust party, promising to restore faith in the political system after the expenses crisis, and stood in the election.

He told an inquiry into party funding by the committee on standards in public life: "Obviously a party is going to take more notice of somebody who might give them lots of money than somebody who won't, but that would be the same in any walk of life. If you were minded to give quite a bit of money to a charity, you would expect them to give more notice of you than they would to somebody who gave them £5.

"First of all it is natural ... and secondly I don't think it's wrong. If someone minds enough about policy to be willing to give them an awful lot of money then he or she is probably worth listening to. It's going to happen anyway. There's no possibility of that not happening, but I don't see why it's wrong."Wheeler said it would be wrong to award peerages or contracts to people who have given donations, but that the fact that they had influence was unobjectionable. He claimed he told William Hague – prior to making his donation of £5m in 2001 – that he would turn a peerage down if offered one.

Asked by one member of the committee, Dame Denise Platt, whether that meant politics had become a rich person's game, he said: "No, it's just that a rich person is going to have his or her views heard ... But they shouldn't change their [the politician's] policy if they don't agree with it."

Asked what reforms he would propose, Wheeler said he would free the system of regulation, and remove a cap which prevents donations. "Broadly speaking, people are entitled to do what they like with their money. To say: 'although you've got all that money' – as I had at that time – 'you can't do what you like with it', it's in a way... an assault on freedom, if you like."

The committee on standards in public life, chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly, is currently conducting an inquiry into party funding. Nick Clegg has promised to reopen party talks next year with an aim to agree reforms.