Like Tony Blair before them, Google has hired a "big gun" to help it spin away from a tight spot: New Labour's arch PR fixer, Tim Allan.

In conditions of near-secrecy, the world's largest internet company has employed Allan - Alastair Campbell's youthful former deputy - to put a shine back on its tarnished public image.

His firm, Portland PR, has been engaged to lobby both the British government and the national media, following Google's decision to allow the Chinese government to censor the content of its site.