Humza Yousaf’s top aide asked controversial tycoon Brian Souter to help arrange business dinner

Brian Souter was previously a major SNP donor and his fresh involvement with the party looms as an issue given past opposition from within the Scottish Greens

Humza Yousaf's top aide asked a controversial business tycoon and former SNP donor to help arrange a business dinner at a five-star hotel.

Colin McAllister, the First Minister's chief of staff, requested Brian Souter "nudge people" about the event at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh.

Mr Souter, the co-founder of Stagecoach, gave more than £2.5 million to the SNP between 2007 and the independence referendum in 2014. However, his donations ceased after Nicola Sturgeon took over the party.

First Minister Humza Yousaf

Mr Souter is a controversial figure due to his socially conservative views. In 2000, he opposed efforts to reverse a ban on the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

News of his exchanges with Mr Yousaf's team will be deeply uncomfortable for the Scottish Greens, who have a power-sharing relationship with the SNP.

In 2011, Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, who is now a Scottish Government minister, said: "The campaign against Souter's bigoted agenda inspired me to get into politics, and any principled party would have told him where to stuff his money."

Mr Yousaf emphasised his commitment to LGBT rights during the SNP leadership contest last year, where he sought to differentiate himself from his rival Kate Forbes and her socially conservative religious views.

Since taking over as First Minister, he has made an effort to woo the business community. Emails released under Freedom of Information laws to the website Politico show exchanges between Mr McAllister and a representative of Mr Souter last summer on the subject of a possible business dinner.

Mr McAllister suggested a list of potential attendees and said the businessman had “offered to reach out to some people” regarding the dinner. “I will leave it to you guys to judge who that might be, but we would be very grateful if he could nudge people as he feels appropriate,” the chief of staff added.

Mr Souter's aide replied: “Brian is fine with reaching out to people once we have the date in the diary."

A "business leaders’ dinner" took place at Prestonfield on July 27, and was attended by both Mr Yousaf and Neil Gray, a senior SNP minister.

The Scottish Government told Politico that “ministers routinely engage with a wide range of business leaders as a normal part of government", and added Mr Yousaf “has been clear since taking office that resetting the relationship between government and business is a priority”.