“Do I believe that the party needs to be more close and friendly to business? Yes, I do and I hope that that will happen over this ensuing period.”
The newspaper said party sources had praised Lord Levy during the Labour conference in Manchester last month, saying he had put potential donors in touch with party officials, but the peer denied having done so.
Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, former cabinet minister Dame Tessa Jowell and the party's biggest donor, the businessman John Mills, have also questioned the mansion tax policy.