Tag: Alastair Campbell

Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director in opposition (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary, and as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson (1997–2000). He then became Downing Street's director of communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003).

Campbell was Political Editor at the Daily Mirror newspaper in the 1980s and of Today in the 1990s. In 1994, shortly after Blair was elected as Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Campbell left the Today newspaper to become Blair's press secretary. He was one of several key people responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its victory in the 1997 general election. In addition to being the press spokesman, Campbell was Blair's speechwriter and chief strategist, earning a reputation for ruthless news management. Campbell played an important role in the run-up to the 1997 general election, working with Peter Mandelson to co-ordinate Labour's successful election campaign.

When Labour won the general election in May 1997, Campbell served as Blair's chief press secretary. He put Downing Street briefings on record for the first time, and although he was only identified as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman, he became one of the most high-profile and written-about figures in British politics, earning the epithet "the real deputy Prime Minister". Campbell oversaw Blair's successful 2001 general election campaign for re-election. In the run-up to the Iraq War, Campbell was involved in the preparation and release of the September Dossier in 2002 and the Iraq Dossier in 2003. Campbell was accused of influencing the reports against the wishes of the intelligence services, which led to Campbell battling with the BBC as well as the general media and later resigning. He returned to assist with the successful 2005 general election campaign.

Since his work for Blair, Campbell has continued to act as a freelance advisor to a number of governments and political parties, including Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania. He was an adviser to the People's Vote campaign, campaigning for a public vote on the final Brexit deal. He is the editor-at-large of The New European and chief interviewer for GQ. He acts as a consultant strategist and as an ambassador for Time to Change and other mental health charities. Throughout his time in Downing Street, Campbell kept a diary which reportedly totalled some two million words. Selected extracts, titled The Blair Years, were published in 2007. He expressed an intention to publish the diaries in fuller form, which he did from 2010 to 2018. In 2019, Campbell was expelled from the Labour Party after voting for the Liberal Democrats in that month's European elections. In 2022, Campbell launched the podcast The Rest Is Politics with Rory Stewart, which has been the top politics podcast in the UK in the Apple rankings since its launch.