Tony Blair's former spin chief Alastair Campbell was the man behind Labour's "anti-Semitic" posters, the party's advertising agency revealed today.

Two controversial images depicting Tory leader Michael Howard as Fagin and a flying pig were withdrawn by the party after a storm of protest from senior Jewish figures.

The proposed posters were initially linked to Labour's advertisers-TBWA, the agency that masterminded its 2001 general election campaign.

But a spokesman for TBWA boss Trevor Beattie said that the firm had not produced the artworks and that the ideas were Mr Campbell's.

Mr Campbell quit Downing Street last year but has been drafted in for Labour's general election campaign, making his first appearance last week at the launch of the party's "Britain Forward not Back" slogan.

The allegation that he was personally behind the most controversial posters will fuel Tory claims that the former director of communications and strategy is directly responsible for the negative tactics.

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