Alastair Campbell Popular Books
Alastair Campbell Biography & Facts
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). He returned as campaign director for the 2005 general election in Blair's third win. Campbell was Political Editor at the Daily Mirror newspaper in the 1980s and of Today in the 1990s. 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. He was an adviser to the People's Vote campaign, campaigning for a public vote on the final Brexit deal. 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. 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. He has written eighteen books, with his most recent one, But What Can I Do? (2023). Education and early life Campbell was born on 25 May 1957 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, son of Scottish veterinary surgeon Donald Campbell and his wife Elizabeth. Campbell's parents had moved to Keighley when his father became a partner in a local veterinary practice. Donald was a Gaelic-speaker from the island of Tiree; his wife was from Ayrshire. Campbell grew up with two older brothers, Donald and Graeme, and a younger sister, Elizabeth. He attended Bradford Grammar School for a short period of time, followed by City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School and the University of Cambridge where he was an undergraduate student of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He studied modern languages, (French and German), gaining an upper second (2:1) degree. Journalism Following graduation from Cambridge, he joined the Mirror Group training scheme and spent a year at a local weekly paper. He became the sports editor at the Tavistock Times, writing a column called 'Campbell's Corner'. He published 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. His first piece for mainstream news journalism was coverage of the Penlee lifeboat disaster in December 1981, while a trainee on the Plymouth-based Sunday Independent, then owned by Mirror Group. In 1982, Campbell moved to the London office of the Daily Mirror, Fleet Street's sole remaining big-circulation supporter of the Labour Party. He became a political correspondent, then in 1986 moved to Today, a full-colour tabloid newspaper, where he worked as a news editor. His rapid rise and its accompanying stress led to alcohol abuse. In 1986, while accompanying MP Neil Kinnock on a tour of Scotland, Campbell had a nervous breakdown. Campbell stayed in Ross Hall Hospital, a private BMI hospital in Glasgow. Over the next five days as an in-patient, he was given medication to calm him. After seeing a psychiatrist, he realised that he had an alcohol problem. Campbell said that from that day onwards he counted each day that he did not drink alcohol, and did not stop counting until he had reached thousands. He experienced a period of depression and he was reluctant to seek further medical help. He eventually cooperated with treatment from his family doctor. Campbell returned to the Daily Mirror, where he eventually became political editor. He was a close adviser to MP Neil Kinnock, and Daily Mirror publisher Robert Maxwell. Shortly after Maxwell drowned in November 1991, Campbell punched The Guardian journalist Michael White after White joked about "Captain Bob, Bob, Bob...bobbing" in the Atlantic Ocean, referring to where the tycoon's body had been recovered. Campbell later put this down to stress over uncertainty as to whether he and his colleagues would lose their jobs. After leaving the Daily Mirror in 1993, Campbell became political editor of Today. Politics and government In 1994, shortly after Tony Blair was elected as Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Campbell left the Today newspaper to become Blair's press secretary. In his autobiography, Blair would later state that Campbell had coined the name "New Labour" and described Campbell as a "genius". Campbell wrote the speech that led to the party's review of Clause IV and the birth of "New Labour". In addition to being the press spokesman, Campbell was Blair's speechwriter and chief strategist, earning a reputation for ruthless news management. The Conservatives conceded they were partly defeated by their inability to find someone to match him. Campbell played an important role in the run-up to the 1997 UK general election, working with Peter Mandelson to co-ordinate Labour's successful election campaign. He also worked hard to win support from the national media for the Labour Party, particularly from newspapers that for many years had been anti-Labour. By March 1997, many of the leading newspapers, including The Sun, once a staunch supporter of Margaret Thatcher, declared their support for Labour. When Labour won the general election in May 1997, Campbell served as the Prime Minister Blair's chief press secretary (1997–2000). He persuaded Cabinet Secretary Robin Butler that government communications had to be modernised, and the government set up the Mountfield Review. He created a Strategic Communications Unit which gave Downing Street the power to co-ordinate all government activity, using what became known as "the grid" as its main apparatus. He set up a rapid rebuttal unit similar to the one he had used in opposition. 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". He opened briefings to the foreign media, which were among a raft of modernisation and efficiency strategies he introduced. In 2001 Campbell claimed that the days of the "bog standard" comprehensive school were over, due to educational policies of the Labour government. BBC documentary maker Michael Cockerell produced a full-length documentary about Campbell's media operation, News From Number Ten. Campbell attacked the news media for their obsession with him, and eventually began to pull back from frontline work and delegated direct briefing of the media to others. He then moved to the post of Prime Minister's Director of Communications. Campbell wa.... Discover the Alastair Campbell popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alastair Campbell books.
Best Seller Alastair Campbell Books of 2024
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How Not To Be Wrong
James OBrien'Simply Brilliant' THE SECRET BARRISTER'Passionate and brilliantly argued' DAVID OLUSOGA'An admirably personal guide' MARINA HYDE'Smart, analytical, selfaware and important' ALASTA...
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Alastair Campbell Talks Politics
Alastair CampbellTHE empowering intro to politics that EVERY young person needs right now from writer, podcaster and strategist ALASTAIR CAMPBELL.Politics made fun? YES, REALLY!Writer, podcaster an...
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Diaries Volume One
Alastair CampbellAs Alastair Campbell said in the introduction to The Blair Years, it was always his intention to publish the full version, covering his time as spokesman and chief strategist to To...
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On Leadership
Allan LeightonThere have been many books on leadership, but here at last is one that actually draws on the wisdom of those in the know. Acting on his belief that you get the most done in the fir...
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Battersea Girl
Martin KnightA couple of years ago, Martin Knight began a quest to delve into his family history. He had a head start on many amateur genealogists, as 30 years earlier he had produced a school ...
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The End Of An Era
Tony BennTony Benn's final instalment of diaries centres on a decade which saw the disintegration of Eastern Europe, an unprecedented assault on the labour movement at home, the fall of...
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New Life For Health
Will HuttonThe National Health Service is Britain's greatest and most prized national institution. Ever since it's foundation the NHS has commanded extraordinary popular affection and loyalty...
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50 People Who Buggered Up Britain
Quentin LettsFrom the Sunday Times bestselling authorWhich fifty people made Britain the wreck she is? From ludicrous propagandist Alastair Campbell to the Luftwaffe's allies, the modernist arc...
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How To Be Right
James OBrienThe voice of reason in a world that won’t shut up.The Sunday Times BestsellerWinner of the Parliamentary Book AwardsEvery day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming hardworking i...
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A Joosr Guide to... Winners by Alastair Campbell
JoosrIn today's fastpaced world, it's tough to find the time to read. But with Joosr guides, you can get the key insights from bestselling nonfiction titles in less than 20 minutes. Whe...
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The Bastard Legion
Gavin G. Smith'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer'An exceptional talent' Peter F HamiltonFour hundred years in the future, the most dangerous criminals are kept ...
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Pillars Of Salt
Joanna BellAlice's world is blown apart when her husband Rob dies suddenly of a heart attack in another woman's bed. Only 40, Rob was an energetic, opinionated, handsome local GP. This wasn'...
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Politically Homeless
Matt Forde'Rarely is such an important book this funny. And rarely is such a funny book this important' RICHARD OSMAN'The second funniest book I have read about being a Labour supporter fro...
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Amazing Disgrace
Grace Campbell'An outpouring of truth, wit, and beautiful comedic wisdom.' Katherine Ryan'Such a funny and interesting book.' Sara Pascoe'Finally my vagina has a voice!' London Hughes'Powerful, ...
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The Powerful and the Damned
Lionel Barber'Extraordinary' TONY BLAIR'Riveting' PHILIPPE SANDS'Brutal, brilliant and scurrilously funny' MISHA GLENNYThe real scoop isn't on the front page'As FT editor, I was a privileged ...
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Depressive Illness
Tim Cantopher'People affected by depression tell me this is the most powerful and helpful book ever written on the topic. I keep meeting people who say this book changed their lives.' Jeremy V...
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The Blair Years
Alastair CampbellA revelatory account of Tony Blair’s tumultuous leadership, The Blair Years gathers extracts from the diaries of the man who knew him best: Alastair CampbellBlair’s spokesman from ...
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Out Of The Wilderness
Tony Benn1963 saw Labour's emergence from its 'wilderness years' in Opposition, and the election of Harold Wilson following the unexpected death of Hugh Gaitskell. In the first Wilson gover...
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More Time for Politics
Tony BennWhen Tony Benn left Parliament after 51 years he quoted his wife Caroline's remark that now he would have 'more time for politics'. And so this has proved: in the first seven years...
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Diaries Volume Two
Alastair CampbellPower & the People covers the first two years of the New Labour government, beginning with their landslide victory at the polls in 1997. This second voume of Campbell's unexpur...
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Diaries Volume Three
Alastair CampbellPOWER AND RESPONSIBILITY is the third volume of Alastair Campbell's unique daily account of life at the centre of the Blair government. It begins amid conflict in Kosovo, and ends ...
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Healthcare Ethics, Law and Professionalism
Voo Teck Chuan, Richard Huxtable & Nicola PeartHealthcare Ethics, Law and Professionalism: Essays on the Works of Alastair V. Campbell features 15 original essays on bioethics, and healthcare ethics specifically. The volume is ...
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Absolutely Foxed
Graeme Fowler'Wonderfully entertaining' Mail on Sunday‘Profoundly important' Guardian Graeme Fowler former England cricketer, happygolucky joker and inspirational coach was 47 when&...
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Conflicts Of Interest
Tony BennIn this, the fourth volume of Tony Benn’s diaries, the Labour Government continues its fight for survival. Important developments are occurring both at home and internationally. In...
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Winners
Alastair CampbellHow do sportsmen excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve the ambitions? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mindset something we can all develop?In the tr...
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Depraved New World
John CraceAS FEATURED IN WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2023From bestselling author and beloved Guardiancolumnist John Crace comes a blisteringly hilarious tour through the whirlwind of postBrexi...