KEY POINTS:
Alastair Campbell - Tony Blair's controversial ex-Press Secretary - is not keen to return to the world of rugby after the stormy baptism of fire that he underwent while serving as the Lions' media manager during the ill-fated 2005 New Zealand tour.
"The bottom line is that it was a rugby tour and we lost all the test matches," he admits. "I'm glad I went but I don't think I'd do it again. What it showed me was that my profile in a certain context makes it very difficult when you translate it into a similar job in a different context.
"It didn't work with the British media who were out there. There's a certain amount of jealousy attached to it when you've been a rugby reporter, travelling around the world covering these guys but never getting inside and then someone who's from a different world comes in."
He claims that the Brian O'Driscoll incident soured it a lot and was really badly handled by the New Zealanders, after it was controversially claimed that All Black captain Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu had seriously injured the Lions skipper and ended his tour with a reckless spear tackle.
Campbell and Lions' coach Sir Clive Woodward were heavily criticised by the New Zealand and British media during and after the highly anticipated tour, the first since 1993. It was a big budget trip: the tourists had their own anthem - The Power of Four - spent $23 million on the expedition and arrived with a staff of 26.
With the series won, the All Blacks turned their sights on the way the Lions used Campbell and were hyper-critical about the way the tourists had perpetuated the criticism of Umaga in the O'Driscoll incident.
"He [Umaga] has put up with a lot of rubbish in the week from a person [Campbell] who doesn't know the game, hasn't got any passion for the game and that is disappointing," coach Graham Henry said.
Assistant coach Steve Hansen chipped in when asked about Woodward's contribution to the series, Lions trip.
"I guess Clive is gonna be remembered as the coach who lost the Lions series after telling everyone it was going to be the best-prepared side," said Hansen.
"But I think he [Woodward] has got it wrong in the way he used Alastair Campbell. I think he would have been far better off just leaving him at home."
Hansen then cuttingly thanked the Lions for fuelling the All Blacks' determination to settle the series.
"Mr Campbell and Mr Woodward drove us together too with what they did to Tana. But the game has lanced the abscess, all the pus has come out and afterwards everyone was fine."
Campbell's media machine vetted all columns written by players during the trip, with minders routinely changing the words "All Blacks" into "New Zealanders." It appears the thinking behind this was to demystify the All Blacks and make them mere mortals, and not rugby giants.
James Lawton, in the Independent, wrote: "What works in the corridors of Westminster and some corners of Fleet Street, the All Blacks have declared with an intensity of shocking but cleansing force, is doomed to failure in the truth test of sport."
Despite it all, Campbell couldn't help but be impressed by the immense passion that Kiwis have for their national game.
"I can remember going on the bus to one of the games and it was a very intense experience," he says.
"That's how it is for New Zealanders. On the day of a test match, it was palpable and you could feel it in the hotel, you could feel tension from the cleaners to the receptionists and drivers.
"There was a sense that you were involved in the biggest thing that was happening in their world. I've had that feeling in politics but when you have that in sport, it is a really powerful thing."
