The BBC’s new five-part series Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution is just the latest offering from this industry of gossip, speculation, and legacy-creation, albeit one with the unique achievement of featuring almost every major figure involved. But beyond the now iconic images of the New Labour years, there are some moments of real insight, and an overarching—if unintended—lesson for the politics of the Left. On Brexit, Trump, trust and whither politics". alastaircampbell.org. 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017 . Retrieved 8 May 2017.

He entered into a civil partnership with British journalist Fiona Millar, on 30 March 2021, after being together for 42 years. [92] The couple have two sons and a daughter, the comedian Grace Campbell. [93] [94] Stage and screen portrayals [ edit ] To an uninformed viewer, it would be easy to believe that before Blair and Brown Labour didn’t even want to win elections, let alone have the capacity to do it. John Smith’s twenty-two point polling leads by the time of his death are not mentioned. Three personal films airing as part of BBC's mental health season". bbc.co.uk. The British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019 . Retrieved 14 May 2019. When Campbell was a boy, he would cross the county boundary to Lancashire to watch Burnley F.C. with his father. [82] He remains a lifelong Burnley supporter and writes about their exploits in a column titled "Turf Moor Diaries" for the FanHouse UK football blog. [83] He is regularly involved in events with the club. [84] He was heavily involved in rescuing the club from potential bankruptcy, gaining the support of many high-profile public figures. He was one of the founders of the University College of Football Business, based at Burnley's stadium. [85] He is also a fan of the rugby league club Keighley Cougars, it having been a childhood dream to play for the team. [86]This image of a former prime minister touting himself about may be distasteful; the scorecard for his decade in power may be one of grave disappointment to those who pinned on him so many hopes and expectations. But Blair is not the first world leader to disappoint. He is not the first to cash in afterwards. So what justifies the visceral loathing felt by so many towards him? Both clearly have issues that they are passionate about and have already made public appearances regarding these.

Beyond the soundbites and psychodrama, the real story of New Labour is therefore of a government which came into office on an almost unprecedented wave of public goodwill, hope, and expectation, and following a brief period of real and commendable reform, embarked in a political direction of ever increasing neoliberalisation and foreign adventurism. Winter Walks". bbc.co.uk. 30 November 2021. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021 . Retrieved 30 November 2021. One moment he appears on a video extolling the virtues of Kazakhstan’s long-serving autocrat, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Next he is defending the Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame, in the face of human rights accusations (as the British government, it must be said, has long done). He publicly gives the benefit of the doubt to Egypt’s military ruler, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. For a man who based his foreign policy on unseating “evil” rulers, Blair’s “relations with dictators have been, and continue to be, bewildering”.Final Say: Alastair Campbell to answer questions on Reddit". The Independent. 19 September 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018 . Retrieved 11 October 2018.

The difficulty is to know how the Christianity influences the politics. Blair himself is reluctant to talk about his religion and, as Rentoul, one of the earliest biographers, points out, even his best friend at Oxford didn't know of his confirmation. Only after John Smith, himself a Christian socialist, became Labour leader did Blair's religion become at all visible to political colleagues and the wider public. Not until 1996, when he was interviewed in the Sunday Telegraph, did he give it a significant outing. After that, his press secretary Alastair Campbell closed the subject down: "We don't do God," he said, fearing that his boss might be portrayed as either an unworldly dreamer or a sanctimonious hypocrite.Marriott, James (18 March 2022). "The Rest Is Politics review — notes from the political wilderness". The Times. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022 . Retrieved 18 August 2022.

On 28 May 2019, Campbell announced that he had been expelled from the Labour Party after voting for the Liberal Democrats in that month's European elections, and that he would appeal against the decision. [70] He also questioned the speed of his expulsion compared to the treatment of Labour colleagues accused of anti-semitism. In response, shadow minister Dawn Butler stated that it was common knowledge that voting for another party would result in automatic exclusion. [71] Campbell, Alastair (23 May 2012). "Joining Portland". Portland Communications. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012 . Retrieved 5 July 2013. Curtis, Polly (2009). "The end of the 'bog-standard' comprehensive". theguardian.com. "The day of the bog-standard comprehensive is over" In 2018 Campbell worked for the People's Vote campaign's planning and organisation of a march on Parliament on 20 October, which drew an estimated 250,000 people [59] onto the streets. The march was described by the media as the second biggest ever, after the protest against the Iraq war in 2003. Campbell, Alastair (3 September 2020). Living Better: How I Learned to Survive Depression. John Murray. ISBN 9781529331844.Kazakhstan". Freedom House. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013 . Retrieved 5 July 2013. The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, with Blair in Downing Street. Photograph: Alastair Grant/Getty Images Campbell has published a number of books, including eight volumes of memoirs. In February 2018, he wrote, with Paul Fletcher, a novel on football and terrorism in the 1970s, Saturday Bloody Saturday. The book has a front cover quote from commentator John Motson describing it as "the best football novel I have ever read". [104] After leaving the 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. Iqbal, Nosheen. "Politics, privilege and podcasts: at home with Alastair Campbell". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019 . Retrieved 11 June 2019.