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My Latest Book
Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume 7
From Crash to Defeat
by
Alastair Campbell
Caught in the no man’s land between being a key figure in Downing Street and the relative anonymity of the world outside politics, Alastair Campbell finds himself being torn in several directions as this latest volume of diaries opens. Having succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown wants Campbell at his side. Campbell resists, flooding his reservoir of guilt as a general election looms and Brown’s indecision and fluctuating moods suggest the Labour administration is seriously threatened by the Tory ‘posh boy’, David Cameron.
Soon Campbell is earning not only praise but big money from motivational speaking and writing novels which darkly reflect the mood swings that continue to concern both him and his family. Serious journalism across platforms old and new puts him back in the public eye and together with live appearances and a love of sport – his enduring love affair with Burnley Football Club still smoulders – sees him board a celebrity merry-go-round that often leaves him far from his comfort zone.
With politics constantly tugging his sleeve, he eventually returns to the front line to marshal a party in disarray. The intensity of the months leading up to 6 May 2010 is as dramatic as any screenplay, with Campbell chronicling Brown’s struggle to win over a disillusioned nation and then his dignified departure from the main stage. For Campbell, another chapter closes. So what next?
Well done not just for the award but for continuing to speak out about this. I am a psychiatric nurse and I know it makes a difference to service users when there are role models they can identify with
Good article in the Times yesterday about footballers, including Lou Macari. Did not know his son had committed suicide or that Macari also had depression. There is so much more of this than people realise. Good blog on Coulson and Cameron and bullying. I wonder if Coulson was also behind the attack on the so called terrorist school which seems to have backfired
Well done for speaking out about a subject that people sweep under the carpet.
What was the fish-shagging joke? Seemed to go down well. More seriously, totally agree on the way the media keep linking violence and mental illness when as you say the mentally ill are often victims of violence.
Keep banging the drum … this is changing but if take the foot off the gas, it will go backward quickly