Alastair campbell

Milestones are always a time for reflection. So the 25th anniversary of New Labour’s election triumph this weekend has prompted an outpouring of dewy-eyed reminiscences from commentators of a certain vintage about how great it all was.  Cool Britannia, the minimum wage, PFI deals and the Millennium Dome. Truly, a golden age: things really could only get better. To mark this auspicious occasion, a familiar face from those halcyon days has re-emerged to remind voters about the best that New Labour had to offer.  Alastair Campbell, the king of spin, has popped up with a new report by Labour in Communications urging Sir Keir Starmer to revamp his approach to PR ahead of the next

Gavin Williamson has been widely mocked after mixing up footballer Marcus Rashford and rugby player Maro Itoje. But Alastair Campbell’s bid to get in on the joke appears to have backfired in rather spectacular fashion. The New Labour spinner – who now spends his time rallying against Brexit – shared a picture of two black waiters alongside the caption: ‘So happy this day. Marcus Rashford and Maro Itoje were waiting tables at a wedding. There was me thinking they were sportsmen!!’ Oh dear. Campbell also posted a picture on Twitter of himself next to a portrait of Bob Marley with the words: ‘Had a great time at the Marcus Rashford museum in Jamaica

Alastair Campbell can’t write. If that sounds like one of the less significant charges one might level against Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor then stick with me. Because anyone who can spill out thousands of words and still be so unoriginal and lacking in insight or self-perception must have things they are trying to hide. That is why the laborious ‘long-think’ that Campbell wrote this week for the equally laborious ‘Tortoise’ website is worth pausing over. For those who have missed it, Campbell was this week invited by Tortoise to write a multi-thousand word piece on the recent events in Afghanistan. Since Campbell was right-hand man to Tony Blair when the

In his very long letter to Jeremy Corbyn about why, after all, he will stay out of the Labour party instead of fighting his expulsion, Alastair Campbell complains that Britain has been the victim of a ‘right-wing coup’. Boris Johnson’s government has no ‘real democratic mandate’, he says, and Mr Corbyn should be fighting it much harder. You hear this argument a lot — we have a new prime minister and so we must have a general election. In my lifetime (born 1956), seven prime ministers — Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Callaghan, Major, Brown, May and Johnson — have come into office without a general election before or immediately ensuing; in that

Jeremy Hunt’s approach is very odd. It is the first time I remember an aspirant for the top job saying: ‘Choose me: I’m frightened of a general election.’ He is obviously right that an election without Brexit accomplished would be very difficult for the Conservatives to win, but the way through that is not to narrow your possibilities in advance. If the newly chosen leader, with the mandate that being newly chosen brings, decided that no deal were his necessary negotiating backstop (which surely it is) or, more controversially, that he wanted it without negotiating at all, he would then be in a strong position to dare his parliamentary party

Dominic Raab – ‘We need to hold our nerve’ Andrew Marr was joined by the Brexit Secretary as the deadline for achieving a deal with the European Union draws ever closer. Marr asked Dominic Raab about rumours that the mood in the party is restless enough to trigger a leadership contest against Theresa May, with the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers reportedly nearing the critical threshold of 48 signatures. Raab told his colleagues that now was the time ‘to play for the team’: AM: What is your message to all of your colleagues who look at this and say ‘This is a complete shambles’? DR: We’re at the end

This weekend thousands of anti-Brexit protesters are expected to take to the streets in the name of the People’s Vote march – the campaign calling for a second referendum. Of all the ‘People’s Vote’ cheerleaders, Alastair Campbell is one of the loudest and he appeared on This Week to plug the event. Only Andrew Neil had a question to ask which seemed to catch Tony Blair’s former spin doctor by surprise: ‘Over 1m people marched, urging the government – of which you were a central figure – not to invade Iraq. You ignored them. Why should this government take any notice of 100k Remainers calling for a second referendum?’ "Over

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell took to social media last week to lament the loss of reasonable discourse in politics. After speaking on Iain Dale’s LBC radio show he praised the host, saying: Good chat with @IainDale @lbc on Brexit just now. I always feel he is one of those people with whom I totally disagree but can have reasonable conversation, of which there is all too little in our politics right now— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) August 3, 2018 So has the earnest Remainer been taking his own advice when it comes to the merits of sensible conversation? Mr Steerpike thinks not. The timely intervention for more decorum came

Alastair Campbell once famously punched the Guardian’s Michael White in the face. A commendable thing to do, undoubtedly, as Mr White is the very incarnation of pomposity and self-righteousness. Quite possibly the best thing Campbell has ever done. But the brief spat (White hit back, according to White) was revealing in another way. Robert Maxwell had just drowned by falling off his yacht and Campbell, then working in the lobby for Maxwell’s paper, the Daily Mirror, took exception to White’s glee at this watery end to the proprietor’s life. ‘Captain Bob, Bob, Bob!’ White chortled, so Campbell punched him. He adored Maxwell and was his ‘close adviser’, no matter that

Exactly a year ago this week I was at a dinner party when a famous opinion pollster leaned over to me and said: ‘You know, the best thing about this election is that within two years Chuka Umunna will be the leader of the Labour party and Sajid Javid the leader of the Conservatives.’ He was referring to the last general election — the dinner party had been convened a week before it took place. I think the chap had been invited to tell us all what would happen at the polls — and indeed he delivered a lengthy and earnest peroration on this subject, utilising all the expertise and

Although Alastair Campbell no longer works in politics, he remains a divisive figure in Westminster thanks to the reputation he earned as Tony Blair’s spin doctor. During this time, Campbell is said to have been instrumental in using spin to win parliamentary approval for Blair’s call to invade Iraq. Still, Campbell appears to think that it’s about time people got over any ill-feelings towards him as a result of this. Speaking at Portland’s Rising Stars party, Campbell gave a speech to the spin doctors of tomorrow. In this, he complained that even though he left Downing Street 12 years ago, he still gets ‘load of sh-t’: ‘I always feel when I’m in

With Jeremy Corbyn’s approval rating currently at minus 39 according to yesterday’s YouGov poll, one could argue that there is little reason for cheer within Team Corbyn. However, the Labour leader can at least take heart that he has managed to prove more popular than one Labour heavyweight when it comes to football. While Corbyn is a regular at Arsenal games — often attending with his sons — other Labour politicians have experienced difficulties fitting in at matches. Writing about New Labour’s toxic legacy and the ‘unelectable’ Corbyn in today’s Guardian, Alastair Campbell recalls a trip to the football he took with Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson: ‘During the Blair years, football and politics became increasingly aligned.

With Jeremy Corbyn appointed as the new leader of the Labour party, few could be more pleased by the news than the left-wing messiah’s personal cheerleader Owen Jones. In fact the Guardian columnist was one of the first to celebrate the Labour MP’s victory yesterday, praising Corbyn during a string of media appearances. He then moved on to offer some advice to the New Labour wing of the divided party over what they should do to support Corbyn’s election campaign; urging them to ‘turn away from the negativity of your media champions’ and ‘come up with a vision’ as ‘that’s how you win’. Alas these comments did not go down well with Tony Blair’s