A leading Brexiteer under fire for alleged links to Russia said he initially met officials from the country to talk about bananas.

Leave.EU communications chief Andy Wigmore said he instigated the meeting at a Ukip conference and had since met Russian figures “many times”, as he and founder Arron Banks were grilled by MPs over the conduct of their campaign in the 2016 EU referendum.

In a robust and occasionally confrontational display aAt the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore confirmed that Leave.EU had on Tuesday lodged an appeal against an Electoral Commission finding the organisation breached spending rules during the referendum.

Mr Banks also confirmed to the committee investigating “fake news” the Brexit-backing group held talks with controversial data firm Cambridge Analytica and intended to use its services if it had been selected as the official Leave campaign - which it was not.

Mr Wigmore told the committee he first met with the Russians in his role as a diplomat for the South American country of Belize.

He said: “We had a couple of issues in relation to bananas and sugar and the initial conversation I had with this gentleman at the Ukip conference - I was trying to find investors to look at perhaps buying a banana farm which had got into trouble because of its owner... and as a consequence Belize couldn’t sell its bananas.” in places like the United States or the United Kingdom.