A former British ambassador to Russia discussed with the US potentially damaging material that could compromise President-elect Donald Trump.

Sir Andrew Wood, who held Britain's top job in Moscow from 1995 to 2000, met Republican senator John McCain at an international security conference last November.

The 77-year-old spoke with Senator McCain about a 35-page dossier, compiled by a British spy, which could be used by Russian officials to blackmail Trump, according to the Independent.

Sir Andrew denied having seen the document, said to contain details of lurid activity on Trump's part and contact with Russian operatives, but admitted discussing it with McCain, a presidential candidate in 2000 and 2008.

"Yes I did meet Senator McCain and his aides at the conference," he told the newspaper.

"The issue of Donald Trump and Russia was very much in the news and it was natural to talk about it."

He continued: "We spoke about the kind of activities the Russians can be engaged in.

"We also spoke about how Mr Trump may find himself in a position where there could be an attempt to blackmail him with Kompromat (the Russian term for compromising material) and claims that there were audio and video tapes in existence."

But Sir Andrew denied having seen the document, said to have been compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

No 10 has refused to be drawn on whether the Government has offered assistance to Mr Steele, believed to be in fear for his life after being named in connection with the document.

Sir Andrew also said he doubted that Mr Steele's source had made the claims up.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today on Friday, he said: ""He could have done, though that would be a fairly elaborate exercise designed to get at Chris Steele and I don't really see why that would be done."

Trump denies all of the allegations and has repeatedly lashed out, describing the story as "fake news."