Alastair Campbell

Margaret Thatcher v Princess Diana: How People’s Princess Tony Blair scooped David Cameron

COMPARE and contrast the deaths of Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, as told by Alastair Campbell, Tony’s Blair’s older spin doctor. He writes on his blog:

…Cameron decided to…tear up his own travel plans, and head back to London effectively to demand a recall of Parliament…

So we are left with the question – why? What was so urgent that these tributes could not wait until Parliament was back? And it is hard to escape the conclusion that as a politician, not as a national leader, Mr Cameron and his team saw some advantage. Perhaps, as has been suggested to me by a civil servant, he was worried that the many Thatcher worshippers on the Murdoch papers, the Mail, the Telegraph and the Express would turn their ire further upon him if he did not bow down in worship with them. Perhaps he felt some potential benefit in associating himself closely with a strong leader who, in death, was likely to have greater focus on achievements than failings. Perhaps he felt that this association would help him with his right wing which fears he is not a strong leader, and that his brand of Conservatism is shipping support to UKIP. Perhaps he thinks her presence back at the heart of national debate will help him with the difficult decisions ahead, on welfare for example.

Some of his readers write in response:

Gilliebc –
Cameron is doing what he always does, i.e. making it up as he goes along and not missing an opportunity to bathe in what he probably sees as reflected glory. He’s an opportunistic media savvy, snake oil salesman.

KDouglas −
Yep, you’re right. This is a seedy attempt by the Conservatives to promote themselves…

Readers may well recall the words of Campbell’s boss Tony Blair when Diana’s died:

“I feel like everyone else in this country today, utterly devastated. She was the people’s princess, and that’s how she will stay, how she will remain, in our hearts and in our memories forever.”

Campbell wrote in his Diaries:

And:

Such are the facts.

RIPR.

Photo 1:Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron delivers a reading next to the coffin of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her funeral service in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Iron Lady, was laid to rest Wednesday with a level of pomp and protest reflecting her status as a commanding, polarizing political figure.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, April 2013 | In: Politicians | Comment

When Alastair Campbell interviewed Lance Armstong David Walsh was missing

AS the Times titles go after Lance Armstrong, and writer David Walsh is listened to anew, the paper might reflect on the decision to let spin doctor Alastair Campbell interview the cyclist in 2004.

The story teases:

Cancer, death, WMD, Bush, drugs, divorce … and five Tour de France victories. Discussions at the summit with Lance Armstrong were tough and uncompromising

When I arrive at the flat at the scheduled time, it is Sheryl Crow, his new pop-star girlfriend, who greets me at the door, very warm and welcoming. She comments favourably on the haircut, then Armstrong appears at the end of the hallway, smaller and slighter than he looked on the bike in Paris, big Texan smile, T-shirt, blue jeans, brown boots. A long, firm handshake and we go into the kitchen for coffee and curly little chocolate biscuits he says he got from a store down the street.

It gets no better.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anorak

Posted: 5th, September 2012 | In: Sports | Comment

The Alistair Campbell Interview and highlights from ‘The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq – The Alastair Campbell Diaries’

ALISTAIR Campbell has been working the media to flog his latest book, The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq – The Alastair Campbell Diaries. He did not download it off the internet in 45 minutes. But on the web (here) can read the the full transcript from last night’s book launch at Queen Mary, University of London, where Campbell was interviewed by John Rentoul Independent on Sunday columist and Queen Mary History Fellow, and introduced by Alun Evans of the Cabinet Office.The event was hosted by the Mile End Group.

Campbell talks about:

– The Vanity Fair journalist who said, ‘can I ask you about your faith’. Campbell stepped in and said ‘David, we don’t do God’. “That is how it started. He put I, in his piece, on like page 25. The Daily Telegraph picked it up and ran it on like page seven. And it then just sort of went ‘whoosh’. And now I get asked about it all the time.”

– Tony Blair’s time in office: “Tony had only a small group around him who he could completely trust. Trust in the obvious sense but also trust to say what we think. I thought one of his huge strengths as a leader was that he was surrounded by people who weren’t at all deferential, we would always say what we thought and he would then kind of weigh that up.”

– Blair’s decision to sack Gordon Brown in 2003. “He obviously thought that was the right thing then but very quickly he got in to the mindset of thinking actually its not black and white and you can’t quite predict what will happen if I do, and so he didn’t.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Anorak

Posted: 21st, June 2012 | In: Politicians | Comment

Armando Iannucci OBE and Alastair Campbell WMD go to war on twitter

ON Twitter (yep, a news story on Twitter – we like to break the new ground – see all papers every day, ed) Alastair Campbell, a hard-faced bastard, is wading out of his depth to launch a broadside against TV comedy writer Armando Iannucci, who has accepted an OBE. Campbell, as ever, proves himself to be a dislikable oaf:

Anorak

Posted: 17th, June 2012 | In: Celebrities | Comment

Alastair Campbell Plays Football Like A Spin Doctor At Stamford Bridge

THEY say you can tell a lot about a man by the way he plays football. Here’s a picture of Alastair Campbell getting to grips with former MP Andy Reed during a charity football match for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust at Stamford Bridge in London. We hold no truck with the theory.