Exposed! Chuka's shady secret: Labour MP belongs to members-only 'den' where he has his own £300 cognac locker and a bar named after him

For a potential Labour leader it’s the most unlikely of venues.

Not a working men’s club in the Labour heartlands where a pint of bitter and a packet of crisps can be bought for loose change, but a members-only ‘den’ tucked away behind The Bank of England where steaks cost £150 and a bottle of cognac can set you back £4,000.

Yet M Den, a shady, decadent eel-skin-lined room at the top of a grand City steakhouse, is where Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna was seen during the Election campaign, after long days spent persuading voters to embrace Labour’s work and welfare policies.

The revelations about Mr Umunna’s nocturnal activities come as intrigue continues to swirl over the reasons for his withdrawal from the Labour Party leadership contest, just days after throwing his hat into the ring.

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The M Den is tucked away behind The Bank of England where steaks cost £150 and a bottle of cognac can set you back £4,000

Champion British polo player Henry Brett, left, and and Oscar Mancini, right, at the opening night of M Restaurant. Tinie Tempah played a 90-minute set at the event

The 36-year-old said in a statement on Friday that he was not comfortable with the level of ‘pressure and scrutiny’ that came with a leadership campaign.

Former DJ Chuka has been to the M Den so often of late he has been given one of 50 coveted electronic entry keys, according to the club’s manager. This key gains entry to the club through a disguised door on the upper floor of the restaurant, called M, which opened last November with a 90-minute show by rap star Tinie Tempah. Inside, is a louche world of wealth and networking most of Chuka’s constituents in Streatham could only dream of accessing.

Described on the M restaurant’s website as a place where guests ‘can get up to mischief’, it’s so exclusive that even celebrity status does not guarantee access – MasterChef presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode recently applied for membership but were turned down.

‘Members of the Den have tended to be sporting legends, musicians and leaders of industry,’ manager Martin Williams explained last week.

Though membership is highly exclusive, it is complimentary, but the M Den is anything but cheap. Nicknamed the ‘boys’ playground’, it’s packed with expensive toys and artwork. A £10,000 pop art picture of a topless woman leaning over a snooker table by American photographer Miles Aldridge hangs on the wall next to a £4,000 Bonzini table football table and a selection of PlayStation computer games can be played on the room’s £10,000 mirrored television. Even the M&M chocolates are individually monogrammed with the club’s logo.

Though critics might see Chuka as a champagne socialist, the speciality at the M Den is cognac – and it is sold at eye-wateringly expensive prices. The most popular is the Hennessy Paradis Imperial Cognac, which sells for £3,500 per bottle. The cheapest bottle of cognac costs £300.

The Den has ‘Bottle Lockers’ so members can store leftovers in between visits. There are only 18 lockers and they are reserved for special members such as Chuka.

The club encourages networking but members can choose to have complete privacy and even manage their own bar should they wish.

Martin added: ‘This is Mayfair meets the City. A playroom for grown-ups.

‘We want to be discreet and we want people to search for us. We do not advertise, it is word of mouth.

‘We love welcoming Chuka here so much that we’ve even opened a polo-themed pop-up bar here for the summer and named it Chuka.’

The Chuka bar – which, unlike the Den, is open to anyone who can afford the prices – opened in April with champion polo player Henry Brett riding through the restaurant on a real polo pony.

A spokesman for Mr Umunna initially said that he had never heard of the club and insisted Chuka had never been, but when pressed later admitted that he is a regular but said he did not have an entry key.

Mr Umunna’s withdrawal from the Labour leadership race was said to have delighted the Tories, who feared the Shadow Business Secretary more than the other candidates.

DailyMail UK