Osborne should avoid the weekend press – unless he wants to learn from his failure as a strategist
George Osborne is an avid reader of his press cuttings, but his advisers may well be tempted to get him away to a newspaper free zone this weekend. The Chancellor still has plenty of admirers in the ... Continue7 July 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Strategy is God – this and other lessons learned from sport and elsewhere
I have been a bit snowed under, and travelling, in the last few days, so apologies to anyone who came on here and found a short and rather tired blog on why David Cameron was avoiding having an inquir... Continue4 July 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Same fear that stalled a press inquiry drives Cameron’s hesitation on banking inquiry
I never fully understood why David Cameron fought so hard to resist an inquiry into the practices of the press. As the Leveson Inquiry has unfolded, the hesitation - finally overwhelmed by the tipping... Continue1 July 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
29 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Don’t blame poor Chloe Smith for Osborne and Gove omnishambles
One of the more repellent aspects of the play POSH that I keep going on about is, as I said in this review in The Independent, the sexism of the young aristo Oxford Tory members of the Riot aka Bullin... Continue27 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Great time on The Wright Stuff, and why I am renaming my diaries Fifty Shades of Power
I must admit to being a bit grouchy with Random House publicity for getting me up for another early start in order to spend much of the morning as a panellist on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff. I am not... Continue26 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Could POSH become to Cameron’s government the satirical tag that SPIN became to TB’s?
An edited version of this piece appears in today's Independent. I have italicised the bigger chunks not in the Indy for any of you who may have read it already, so you can skip to those bits! Also qui... Continue25 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Free research for anyone minded to follow up Independent on Sunday non-story splash
Based on a passage in my diary (clearly missed by The Guardian who serialised Burden of Power last week) The IoS has splashed with 'How Blair misled Cabinet on Iraq.' The Guardian were right to miss i... Continue23 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Gove is playing fast and loose with education as a way of aiming even higher (for himself not kids)
As Michael Gove reflects on his latest intervention, what will have the greater impact on him as he surveys the weekend papers with his usual careful reading? ... the fact that he has annoyed huge nu... Continue23 June 2012
Posted by Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.