With a cynical grin, Russian business magnate Kirill Babayev told an audience of his peers how to inveigle their way into the British Establishment.

The first step, he declared, is to hire a few ‘grey-haired’ members of the House of Lords to act as ‘consultants’, or non-executive directors, of your company.

For just a few thousand pounds a month (chicken-feed to the average oligarch) they’ll usually agree to take a seat in your boardroom, Babayev said, providing an instant boost to a wealthy Russian’s prestige and contacts book.

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In 2004, Lord Truscott (left) wrote Putin’s Progress, a flattering biography of the Russian leader while Lord Mandelson (right) is a non-executive director of the giant Russian conglomerate Sistema

After that, securing a UK stock market listing, signing lucrative deals with British firms, or simply getting invited to all the right London parties becomes a piece of cake.

This cunning ruse works, Babayev added, even if the British peers ‘don’t know a thing about the operations’  of whatever company they agree to represent.