A portrait of Baroness Thatcher commissioned by the University of Buckingham, which was chosen as the location for the centre PA

An appeal raising funds to create a visitor centre dedicated to Baroness Thatcher has instead spent much of its fortune encouraging young people to support right-wing beliefs.

The Tory MP Conor Burns is under scrutiny by the Charity Commission over his involvement in the British wing of a transatlantic campaign that was supposed to build a museum and library devoted to the former prime minister.

An investigation by The Times has found that most donations to the Margaret Thatcher Centre’s US fundraising vehicle came from the billionaire Robert Mercer, President Trump’s top donor. He set up Cambridge Analytica, the consulting company that controversially became involved in data mining, and bankrolled Steve Bannon, the alt-right activist.

Conor Burns is facing scrutiny from the Charity Commission

It can also be revealed that, after a public appeal…