Bob Shrum has fought eight US presidential elections and lost them all. That has not stopped his re-emergence as an influence on Gordon Brown, an old friend to whom he has played host in Cape Cod.

The veteran Democratic strategist helped to write the Prime Minister’s conference speech and is even said to have been given a desk at the Cabinet Office from where he is helping to plan Labour’s election campaign.

Even before Tony Blair’s departure Mr Shrum was travelling to London to dispense advice to Mr Brown. The Times disclosed that in March last year he delivered a speech at a private seminar at the John Smith Institute attended by Brownite notables such as Ed Balls and Douglas Alexander. He suggested that Labour needed to distance itself from Mr Blair’s record and eschew the politics of “triangulation”, they meant that leaders had to set their compass by the direction of others, he said.

Mr Shrum’s hand was also detected in the Chancellor’s 2006 Budget speech, which had echoes of the “people versus the powerful” theme of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.

One senior Democratic figure expressed concern that Mr Shrum could be about to reprise the election strategy in which the Vice-President distanced himself from the Administration of his boss, Bill Clinton. “Tell him to stop – I mean, it really worked for ‘President’ Gore, didn’t it?” he said.

Karl Rove, who masterminded President Bush’s election victories against Mr Gore in 2000 and a similarly advised John Kerry in 2004, was likewise incredulous. Mr Brown was “hanging out with a loser”, and his link to Mr Shrum was likely to reinforce the Prime Minister’s image in the White House as someone with traditional US Democratic views, he told friends.

Mr Shrum’s 8-0 record belies sterling achievements in many Democratic congressional campaigns, his allies say. He can also point to success as an adviser to Mr Blair’s election victories.

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