But What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It

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Politics and government [ edit ] Campbell lecturing at the LSE series 'From Kennedy to Blair,' 7 July 2003 After leaving the Daily Mirror in 1993, Campbell became political editor of Today. He was working there when Labour leader John Smith died in 1994. Campbell was a well-known face and helped to interview the three candidates for Labour Party leader; it later became known he had already formed links with Tony Blair. They invent, they exaggerate, they deny saying things they've said' – Alastair Campbell on Boris Johnson and Donald Trump". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020 . Retrieved 5 May 2020. Campbell likes Stewart’s clarity, the fact that (surprise) he doesn’t interrupt, and, I surmise (because he doesn’t precisely articulate this), his kindness, which manifests itself in the form of gentle, diligent good manners. “I’ve only ever done the podcast once when I was clinically depressed,” says Campbell. “I felt so bad, I said so, and we ended up doing half of it about mental health and politics. He’s very good like that. He’s not naturally empathetic in a way I can be – Rory can be quite reserved – but he’s emotionally intelligent when it comes to stuff like that. I sometimes go a bit far in needling him, but most of the time, he’s fine with it. I mean, we both have irritating mannerisms. Sometimes, he won’t engage. He’s got this habit where he says, ‘Hmm, very good’ [he makes his voice clipped and patrician], and then he moves on.” Later, I will hear Stewart do exactly this, and each time he does, it is a bit like being in a John le Carré novel. The shrewd diplomat, faced with a potential tyrant, knows precisely how to handle him, his artful segue carefully and disarmingly cast as praise. Campbell clashed with Adam Boulton on Sky News about the result of the 2010 general election, with the latter being reduced to shouting over both Campbell and the show's presenter. [32]

For god's sake': Alastair Campbell in angry Newsnight exchange over Brexit 'lies' ". The Independent. 12 May 2023 . Retrieved 16 May 2023. Johnson’s rise] has nothing to do with the genuine needs and interests of the country and everything to do with his ambition, so though we might well already have been on a path of decline, and though I think austerity was overdone for political rather than economic reasons, I cannot help thinking that if Cameron had won the referendum and stayed on as PM, the country would not be in the mess to which Johnson and Brexit took it.’ It is not unusual for partners and families to feel that maybe it is they who are going crazy. When Alastair had his breakdown in 1986 and I was told that he was in a police cell in Scotland, it was almost a relief to understand that there was actually something wrong with him, not me. Until that point he had very cleverly deflected any concern about his frankly disturbed behaviour in my direction. I was unreasonable, nagging, neurotic. In 2018 Campbell became part of the top table team at the People's Vote campaign fighting for a referendum on the Brexit deal. This included overseeing the production of campaign films, including one written by and starring his daughter Grace, called The Brexit Special, for which Campbell persuaded actor Richard Wilson to revive his most famous character, Victor Meldrew. [56] [57] Rawnsley, Andrew (2001). Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-027850-8.In January 2022 Campbell began a series of interviews for Men's Health called Talking Heads, with a focus on mindset and well-being. This started with England rugby player Maro Itoje and former athlete turned sports politician Sebastian Coe. [51] Ryan, Anya (5 August 2022). "Comedian Grace Campbell, 'I don't give a f**k, I get that from my dad' ". Evening Standard . Retrieved 17 February 2023. He entered into a civil partnership with British journalist Fiona Millar, on 30 March 2021, after being together for 42 years. [91] The couple have two sons and a daughter, the comedian Grace Campbell. [92] [93] Stage and screen portrayals [ edit ]

In January 2014, Campbell announced that he was joining British GQ with a brief to conduct interviews with figures from "politics... sport, business, culture, (and) other aspects of life that I find interesting", succeeding Piers Morgan. In his role at GQ Campbell has interviewed a wide range of people, including Jose Mourinho, Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mario Balotelli, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt from the world of sport and Tony Blair, Sadiq Khan, Nicola Sturgeon, George Osborne, John McDonnell, John Bercow, and Chuka Umunna from the world of politics, as well as conducting in-depth interviews with many other figures from public life, including Archbishop Justin Welby, Garry Kasparov and Rachel Riley. In 2017, he conducted an interview with Prince William. In March 2017, GQ began to film the interviews to use as part of their digital platform, beginning with an interview with Owen Jones, and then Tony Blair. When Jeremy Corbyn was interviewed for the magazine in late 2017, he did so on the condition that Campbell would not be the interviewer. [43] [44] [45] What follows is, in essence, a reprise of what I heard earlier, with the addition of a few knobs and whistles. The audience claps and cheers when Stewart describes how he once refused to be bullied by George Osborne, and laughs uproariously at footage of him determinedly explaining that, no, a flood defence had not been breached; the water had simply come over it. Campbell talks everyone through his Burnley ties, which are, after all, a great deal more sensible than the Privy Counsellor’s uniform Stewart wore to the coronation; there is also some peculiar sporran talk (both men own more than one). Campbell then plays, by way of a finale, a lament he has composed for the lost of Northern Ireland on his bagpipes, a tune he transmogrifies into Happy Birthday in honour of someone in the balcony. Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. Having graduated from Cambridge University in modern languages, he went into journalism, principally with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, Campbell worked for him first as press secretary, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy from 1994 to 2003. He continued to act as an advisor to Mr Blair and the Labour Party, including during subsequent election campaigns. He now splits his time between writing, speaking, politics in Britain and overseas, consultancy and charity, as chairman of fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and a leading ambassador for the mental health campaign Time to Change.His first published work was Inter-City Ditties, his winning entry to a readers' competition in Forum, the journalistic counterpart to Penthouse magazine. This led to a lengthy stint writing pieces for the magazine with such titles as "Busking with Bagpipes" and "The Riviera Gigolo", written in a style calculated to lead readers at the time to believe they were descriptions of his own sexual exploits. [9] Nevertheless, Campbell remains steadfast in his conviction that his book will serve as a wake-up call for Brexiteers and prompt them to reevaluate their beliefs. He asserts that by confronting their perceived intellectual shortcomings, Brexiteers may gain a deeper appreciation for the benefits of European integration and reconsider their stance on Brexit.

Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell's odd-couple podcast". Financial Times. The Financial Times. 28 March 2022. Archived from the original on 20 April 2022 . Retrieved 5 April 2022. Political Strategist, New European editor-at-large, mental health campaigner and co-host of the country’s Number 1 podcast The Rest is Politics, Alastair Campbell comes to UCL for a special opening event of the UCL Political Science, Policy & Practice seminar series for 2023 in partnership with the UCL Policy Lab. UCL Culture Bloomsbury Theatre Discussion/Q&A , Talk Current Students public But What Can I Do? In conversation with Alastair CampbellThe Happy Depressive: In Pursuit of Personal and Political Happiness (2012). Arrow. ISBN 0-09-957982-0 Mason, Rowena. "Labour expels Alastair Campbell from party". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021 . Retrieved 11 June 2019. The Irish Diaries". lilliputpress.ie. The Lilliput Press. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017 . Retrieved 10 May 2017. Fiona thought we were still going through a period of intense recrimination – she blamed me for bringing so much pressure into the family, I blamed her for forcing me out of the role I felt I was made for – was really trying her best and suggested we go for a walk to talk things over. Again.