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Plenty for Cameron to be nervous about as confident Hollande takes the reins in the rain

I was in Paris for part of the aftermath of former Presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn's spectacular fall. The mood in the Parti Socialiste at the time was one of real anxiety, for all the con... Continue

If Sarkozy loses, Cameron should reflect that omnipresent hyperactivity may have been a factor

If, as is being widely suggested, Francois Hollande wins the French elections, and Nicolas Sarkozy becomes a rare, single-term President, there are one or two lessons David Cameron might try to draw o... Continue

19 April 2012

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Francois Hollande could be the beneficiary of Merkel-Sarko election pact

Yes that was me tweeting in German last night, digging into my modern languages education to remember all I could, and surprised how much that was. Truth is, as I am about to say to a conference in Be... Continue

30 January 2012

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Europe’s leaders need to be honest about what they really think, and what they really can and cannot do

Another day, another summit, another round of ups and downs, then stand by for another set of bold declarations that Europe's leaders have found the solutions to the current crisis ... again. With eve... Continue

8 December 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Merkel, Sarko and Cameron will need all their communications skills to win the new arguments in Europe

I'm off to Dunkirk today for a conference of French communications professionals, Cap' Com, asking themselves whether the public still believe 'la communication publique.' The answer is that sometime... Continue

6 December 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Rarely can the summit smiles, backslaps and trumpeteering have seemed so incongruous

I suppose our leaders have to do that smiling thing as they arrive at summits (though I can't think they and we would all be happier if a lot of the ceremonials were scrapped, the trumpeteers confined... Continue

3 November 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Cameron looking weaker under twin attack from Sarko and Eurosceptic backbenchers

You'd have thought President Sarkozy would still have been in post-Libya mutual backslap mode with Dave, added to which a new baby usually puts a man in a good mood for a few days. So our PM must rea... Continue

24 October 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Osborne right to be gloomy – politically we’re out of the euro but economically we’re all in this mess together

I promise I am not going soft, but I am beginning to feel a little bit sorry for David Cameron and George Osborne. As a regular attendee of European summits when Labour was in power, I always feel a b... Continue

22 October 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

A (very long) essay on political communications, French style

The post has just arrived and in it a very nice surprise, the discovery that Jacques Seguela, one-time adviser to President Mitterrand, now close confidant of President and Madame Sarkozy (indeed he i... Continue

19 October 2011

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.

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