Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has insisted Tory election strategist Lynton Crosby has no influence on government policy.
Mr Clegg told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I have never met the guy. I don't know what he looks like. I wouldn't recognise him if I passed him in the street."
Mr Crosby is accused by Labour of influencing the decision to shelve a ban on branding on cigarette packets.
The lobbyist lists among his clients the tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Asked if Mr Crosby had influenced the decision to delay the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes in England and Wales, Mr Clegg said the decision was taken by the health secretary on the basis that the evidence to support the policy was still inconclusive.
"He is completely irrelevant to the discussions within the coalition government," said Mr Clegg, adding that Mr Crosby has "no role in government policy - he is an employee of the Conservative Party".
'Transparency'The government announced this week it was putting a decision on plain packaging on hold to study the results of a similar policy in Australia, where plain packets were introduced in December last year in an effort to cut smoking.
Labour seized on the apparent U-turn as evidence of the influence of Mr Crosby, who was drafted in earlier this year to sharpen up the Conservatives' campaigning ahead of the next general election.
The Australian spin doctor had previously overseen Boris Johnson's victory in last year's London mayoral contest and his public affairs firm has been working with tobacco giant Philip Morris in the UK since November.
Senior ministers have been lining up to deny Mr Crosby had any influence on policy discussions.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Lynton Crosby's work is for the Conservative Party. He hasn't lobbied me and he hasn't lobbied the prime minister on issues to do with public health and there is a clear dividing line.
"There is also transparency. We are not hiding this fact."
ScandalsTory MP and former GP Sarah Wollaston has accused Mr Crosby of persuading David Cameron to sacrifice potentially controversial public health policies such as plain packaging and minimum alcohol pricing for electoral reasons.
Shadow public health minister Dianne Abbott has conceded, in a BBC interview, that Mr Crosby is unlikely to have had a direct influence on health policy, but has suggested there is a conflict of interest between his role with the Conservative Party and his firm's work for the tobacco industry.
It comes as MPs begin a fresh attempt to clean-up the lobbying industry in the wake of a string of cash-for-influence scandals.
The government's lobbying bill is expected to create a register of lobbying agencies, who sometimes employ former MPs to influence government decision-making on behalf of corporate clients.
The firms would have to publish a full list of their clients, although some campaigners say this will have a limited effect as it only include "third party" lobbyists, rather than companies, charities and trade unions themselves.
On Tuesday, the House of Commons authorities withdrew around 50 parliamentary passes linked to staff employed by all-party parliamentary groups in response to concerns about political lobbying.
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