Donations are meant to be registered for every annual quarter

But half of the rise shown in donation records for October to December came from the will of a supporter who died.

The Electoral Commission says the Tories received �3,259,889, up from 2,370,931 in the previous three months.

In the same period Labour received �3,025,254 while the Liberal Democrats netted �805,223.

The Tories' largest donation was a �450,000 bequest from supporter Kenneth Richards.

Mr Cameron's campaign team also gave �50,000 - thought to be money left over from his leadership battle with David Davis.

The Conservative leader was elected on 6 December so the figures cover the most intensive period of the leadership race and its immediate aftermath.

Overall rise

The figures follow newspaper report last week that an anonymous Tory donor has cancelled a �250,000 contribution because of worries about the way Mr Cameron is changing the party.

Labour's donation figures were down 700,000 on the previous period, while the Lib Dems' were up about �110,000, despite damaging headlines about Charles Kennedy's drinking and frontbencher Mark Oaten's affair with a male prostitute.

But the overall donations for all parties are about �2.6m lower than the three months before last year's general election.

Total donations rose by nearly a quarter from 2004 to more than �50m last year - as would be expected in a general election year.