Robert Courts MP defends donation from Lubov Chernukhin

Robert Courts has been the MP for Witney in Oxfordshire since 2016, when his predecessor David Cameron left politics

A Conservative MP received a donation from a backer with Russian links ahead of the general election last year.

Robert Courts, MP for Witney, received £3,000 from Lubov Chernukhin, a British citizen of Russian origin.

The donation to Mr Courts' local Conservative Association is described in the register of financial interests for MPs as for "my 2019 fighting fund".

Mr Courts said Mrs Chernukhin was a "British citizen and is perfectly entitled to make political donations".

"All donations to the local Conservative Association are received in accordance with UK law and registered with the Electoral Commission," he said in a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting service.

The revelation of the donation comes as an inquiry found Russian interference in the UK had been "badly underestimated" by the government, although No 10 said it was "fully aware of the significant and enduring threat" Russia posed.

The committee said Russian influence in the UK was now "the new normal", and the UK was a "top Western intelligence target" for the state, only behind Nato and US.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the Intelligence and Security Committee's report "Russophobia".

Mrs Chernukhin's husband served under Russia's president Vladimir Putin

Mrs Chernukhin, whose name is listed as Luba rather than Lubov in the donation to Mr Courts, is a former banker and longstanding Conservative donor.

Her husband served under Russia's president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Courts is not the only Conservative MP to have received money from Ms Chernukhin in the past year.

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnett and now a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, declared a £2,000 donation from her, via her local Conservative Association, in November.

And Brandon Lewis, MP for Great Yarmouth and secretary of state for Northern Ireland, declared a £10,000 donation from Mrs Chernukhin in March.

Also in March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended a £160,000 donation made to the Conservatives by Mrs Chernukhin in return for a tennis match with him.

Mrs Chernukhin is said to be the highest-spending female donor in UK political history.