Campbell denies negative influence

Alastair Campbell has again denied that he had a negative effect on the British and Irish lions on their tour to New Zealand.

Campbell came under heavy criticism for the way in which he handled the media reaction over the tackle by Tana Umaga on Brian O'Driscoll which dislocated the Lions' captain's shoulder.

The tourists subsequently lost the series 3-0, and made very few friends in the media, with many tour veterans claiming it had been the worst tour they had been on.

"If we had been winning there would not have been the focus on me and the Umaga affair," Campbell said on BBC Five Live.

"Once the Test series started the British media started to kick in a fairly aggressive way, and not just against me.

"But [Lions head coach] Clive Woodward said there was nothing different he would have done had I not been there.

"It was down to Clive, the squad's lawyer and Brian O'Driscoll, who had pretty strong feelings about the whole thing, to make sure the case we were trying to make about [the Umaga affair] was properly heard.

"The New Zealand media turned on us because they thought we were attacking a national hero and the British media joined in."