Tony Blair’s former “spin doctor” Alastair Campbell remains in close contact with his former employer, speaking to him at least twice a week and desires a role in Labour’s next general election campaign, the Times newspaper reports today.

Mr Campbell dubbed the “real deputy prime minister” and a “sultan of spin” told the newspaper he has offered informal advice on “presentation” on the Iraq weapons dossier.

But he denied there had been any strategy to name Dr David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence weapons expert who committed suicide after being named as the “mole” in a BBC report on the so-called “dodgy” dossiers affair.

Mr Campbell said: “I’d hate not to be involved in some way – but I’m conscious there are other people who may want to do things differently.

“Part of me still feels bad when I see Tony getting a lot of grief.

“But I don’t want to be one of those people who is hanging around.”

Mr Campbell said he hoped to write about a book about his time in Mr Blair’s “inner circle” but not while the present leader was in office.

He said he had been offered more than GBP2 million for write his memoirs.

“It’s not because whenever I do anything I’m gonna dump on everybody because I’m not but I’d find it very, very hard to do while Tony’s still there, I think it’d be wrong,” he said.