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23 August 2011
Last updated at 04:22 ET
Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was paid by the paper's parent company while working as the Tories' spokesman, the BBC has learned.
News International paid the Conservatives' former communications director a severance package worth several hundred thousand dollars.
Mr Coulson, who has been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, also had continued access to healthcare.
Labour said PM David Cameron faced "serious questions" over the claims.
BBC business editor Robert Peston said the instalments received by Mr Coulson totalled the full entitlement under his two-year contract as editor of the now closed tabloid.
'Hidden donation' The severance package also allowed him to keep hold of his company car, our correspondent revealed.
Mr Coulson was hired by the then opposition Conservative party in July 2007 for a reported salary of £275,000.
He had quit as NoW editor six months earlier when its royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into the voicemails of Buckingham Palace staff.
Mr Coulson resigned from his government post in January, saying pressure over phone hacking was distracting him from his role.
Then last month he was arrested on suspicion of corruption and phone hacking and released on police bail until October.
Labour MP Tom Watson told the BBC he would write to the Electoral Commission to see whether the News International payments complied with British laws.
"Given that Andy Coulson resigned in disgrace from the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal, he took responsibility for what happened on his watch - his words, not mine - it seems remarkable that News International would feel obliged to give him any payments at all," he said.
"And if those payments were discretionary then I think in law they would count as a hidden donation."
A Labour spokesman said: "David Cameron now faces allegations that one of his top advisers was also in the pay of News International.
"The prime minister needs to immediately make clear whether these allegations are true.
"There are serious questions to answer about Mr Coulson's employment in Downing Street and the country should not have to wait for full transparency."
A Conservative party spokeswoman said senior party officials had no knowledge of Mr Coulson's severance arrangements.
And a News International spokesman said: "News International consistently does not comment on the financial arrangements of any individual."
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News International paid the Conservatives' former communications director a severance package worth several hundred thousand dollars.
Mr Coulson, who has been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, also had continued access to healthcare.
Labour said PM David Cameron faced "serious questions" over the claims.
BBC business editor Robert Peston said the instalments received by Mr Coulson totalled the full entitlement under his two-year contract as editor of the now closed tabloid.
'Hidden donation' The severance package also allowed him to keep hold of his company car, our correspondent revealed.
Mr Coulson was hired by the then opposition Conservative party in July 2007 for a reported salary of £275,000.
He had quit as NoW editor six months earlier when its royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into the voicemails of Buckingham Palace staff.
Mr Coulson resigned from his government post in January, saying pressure over phone hacking was distracting him from his role.
Then last month he was arrested on suspicion of corruption and phone hacking and released on police bail until October.
Labour MP Tom Watson told the BBC he would write to the Electoral Commission to see whether the News International payments complied with British laws.
"Given that Andy Coulson resigned in disgrace from the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal, he took responsibility for what happened on his watch - his words, not mine - it seems remarkable that News International would feel obliged to give him any payments at all," he said.
"And if those payments were discretionary then I think in law they would count as a hidden donation."
A Labour spokesman said: "David Cameron now faces allegations that one of his top advisers was also in the pay of News International.
"The prime minister needs to immediately make clear whether these allegations are true.
"There are serious questions to answer about Mr Coulson's employment in Downing Street and the country should not have to wait for full transparency."
A Conservative party spokeswoman said senior party officials had no knowledge of Mr Coulson's severance arrangements.
And a News International spokesman said: "News International consistently does not comment on the financial arrangements of any individual."
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