Lancashire Police are reviewing the available information" after receiving a letter “detailing concerns around this matter”, the force said.

Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds is understood to have written to police calling for an investigation into the allegations.

Mr Menzies lost the Conservative whip and was suspended as one of Rishi Sunak’s trade envoys after the Times published claims he had used political donations to cover medical expenses and pay off “bad people” who had locked him in a flat and demanded thousands of pounds for his release.