Revealed: How £5,000 buys the secrets of Brown's dream team

Firms are being charged thousands of pounds for information on Gordon Brown's key advisers and, on at least two occasions, for the chance to dine with close allies. The Independent on Sunday has seen an email from a leading lobbyist bragging how it is cashing in on its "unrivalled expertise and links to the Brown camp".

Firms including the fast-food chain McDonald's and BAE Systems, the weapons giant, are being offered a 130-page "in-depth analysis" of "what a Gordon Brown government will mean for business in the UK" for £5,000.

A manager at Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA) told colleagues that The Brown Book "promises to be a lucrative initiative. Just 40 of these sold means an injection of £200K to our results."

In another money-spinning wheeze, around a dozen clients were charged around £250 each for a dinner with Geoffrey Robinson on 14 November last year. It is not known whether the former paymaster-general knew that guests were paying to attend the dinner, which was hosted by BPPA.

The lobbying firm, set up by the Tory grandee Lord Bell, courted controversy last September when it admitted charging clients to meet cabinet ministers at Labour's annual conference. Dinner with the Treasury Chief Secretary, Stephen Timms, was among highlights of a programme of events offered to the lobbyist's clients. Mr Timms, who had not been told he was being "sold on", refused to attend on discovering the truth.

The man behind the drive to cash in on the incoming Brown administration is Peter Bingle, managing director of BPPA. Bingle, a former Conservative councillor, has close personal links with Nick Brown, the former agriculture minister and a leading backbench ally of the Chancellor. He is godfather to one of Mr Bingle's children and the two men share a passion for opera.

The former agriculture minister attended a dinner hosted by BPPA for its clients at Labour's conference. Both Mr Brown and Mr Robinson are among 29 key figures around the Chancellor profiled in Chapter Six - "Who Do I Need to Know?" - of The Brown Book.

Embarrassingly, the first name is that of Wilf Stevenson. He is director of the Smith Institute, currently under investigation by the Charity Commission.

Mr Stevenson, who denies allegations that the institute is a "front" for Gordon Brown, will be less than pleased by the lobbyists' description of him as running a "think-tank whose work often proves to be a forerunner of government policy. This is not by accident. The institute has the unique opportunity of running its seminars out of No 11 Downing Street."

Nick Brown's profile, meanwhile, acknowledges his "reputation as a political fixer" before stating that "under a Brown premiership he would be expected to reassume his original role in government - that of Chief Whip".

The lobbyists' analysis does not envisage a return to government for Mr Robinson, however. Forced to stand down as a minister at the Treasury in 1998, when it emerged that he had lent cash to Peter Mandelson, he is tipped instead for a "an informal ambassadorial role".

Gordon Brown last night moved to distance himself from the lobbying row. A source close to the Chancellor said: "No one in Gordon Brown's so-called inner circle had anything to do with the production of this book, as is fairly evident from its contents.

"Anyone speaking to lobby companies about prospects for a Brown premiership does so without Gordon's knowledge or authority." He said companies should take whatever lobbyists told them with a "large pinch of salt".

BPPA was also disowned by its own industry watchdog, the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC), a body which it refuses to join. The chair of the APPC, Gill Morris, said: "The APPC and its code of conduct is based on the principles of transparency and openness, and I doubt the Parliamentarians involved were aware of the full picture.

"It is unfortunate that BPPA chooses not to be a member of the APPC, as it means they are not bound by our code, which works to safeguard the reputation of the industry as whole. Given the majority of the industry do abide by the APPC code, it is a pity that BPPA chooses to let the rest of us down."

A BPPA spokesman did not deny charging clients for The Brown Book, but said that firms were asked only to cover the cost of dinners and not to meet guests.

Nick Brown confirmed that he had been a guest at a BPPA dinner during Labour's conference, but said that he had not been paid to attend and had not talked about the nature of a Brown administration.

He said: "I always tell people who want to know what he's going to do to ring up his office and ask him. I do not and cannot speak for him."

Although Nick Brown and Geoffrey Robinson are not thought to have played any role in the preparation of the lobbyists' analysis, there is considerable irritation within the Chancellor's camp over the sale of the document.

Gordon Brown has been explicit in signalling that he wishes to draw a line under the sleaze scandals that have dogged Tony Blair. As Mr Blair prepared to be interviewed by detectives probing the cash-for-honours allegations last year, Mr Brown met Sir Alistair Graham, chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, to discuss how to clean up politics.

"Gordon will absolutely hate this," said a supporter yesterday.

Who's who in PM-in-waiting's inner circle

Pay £5,000 to lobbying firm Bell Pottinger Public Affairs and this is the kind of inside material you will receive on Gordon Brown's top team

WILF STEVENSON

"The intellectual driving force for the Brownite wing outside the Treasury circle ... Stevenson and Brown have been lifelong friends."

GEOFFREY ROBINSON

"A self-made millionaire ... [who used] his millions to help finance Labour's opposition effort."

NICK BROWN

"He retains very close links with Gordon Brown, who is an ally and personal friend ... would be expected to [become] Chief Whip."

ED BALLS

"Would certainly rise to a job in Cabinet, perhaps replicating Peter Mandelson's ... role as Brown's 'eyes' and 'ears' across Whitehall." ED MILIBAND

"Has a foot in both the Blair and Brown camps, although his first political loyalty is to the Chancellor."

ANN KEEN

Brown's PPS is "well regarded...approachable and extremely efficient...will probably be rewarded with a junior ministerial position."

MICHAEL JACOBS

An "'old-fashioned' Fabian but no 'old Labour dinosaur', Jacobs...advises Brown on green issues."