Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist. Campbell worked as Tony 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).
Campbell was political editor at the Daily Mirror newspaper in the 1980s and of Today in the 1990s. Shortly after Blair was elected as Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Campbell left the Today to become Blair's press secretary. He was one of several key people responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its victory in the 1997 general election. In addition to being the press spokesman, Campbell was Blair's speechwriter and chief strategist, earning a reputation for ruthless news management. Campbell played an important role in the run-up to the 1997 general election, working with Peter Mandelson to co-ordinate Labour's successful election campaign.
When Labour won the general election in May 1997, Campbell served as Blair's chief press secretary. 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". Campbell oversaw Blair's successful 2001 general election campaign for re-election. In the run-up to the Iraq War, Campbell was involved in the preparation and release of the September Dossier in 2002 and the Iraq Dossier in 2003. Campbell was accused of influencing the reports against the wishes of the intelligence services, which led to Campbell battling with the BBC as well as the general media and later resigning. He returned to assist with the successful 2005 general election campaign.
Since his work for Blair, Campbell has continued to act as a freelance advisor to a number of governments and political parties. He was an adviser to the People's Vote campaign, campaigning for a public vote on the final Brexit deal. He is the editor-at-large of The New World (formerly 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. Throughout his time in Downing Street, Campbell kept a diary which reportedly totalled some two million words. Selected extracts, titled The Blair Years, were published in 2007. He expressed an intention to publish the diaries in fuller form, which he did from 2010 to 2018. In 2019, Campbell was expelled from the Labour Party after voting for the Liberal Democrats in that month's European elections.
In 2022, Campbell launched the podcast The Rest Is Politics with Rory Stewart, in which they discuss various political issues of the day.
Alastair John Campbell was born on 25 May 1957 in Keighley, West Yorkshire, the son of Scottish veterinary surgeon Donald Campbell and his wife, Elizabeth (née Caldwell), who had moved to Keighley when his father became a partner in a local veterinary practice. His mother, Elizabeth Howie Caldwell, was from Burnhouse, Moscow, East Ayrshire. His father was from Corrairigh, Cornaigbeg, Tiree, the son of Lachlan Campbell. His parents married at Laigh Kirk, Kilmarnock on 18 March 1953. Campbell grew up with two older brothers, Donald and Graeme, and a younger sister, Elizabeth.
Campbell attended Bradford Grammar School for a short period of time, followed by City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School. He was an undergraduate student of Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied modern languages (French and German), gaining an upper second class degree.
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 Labour leader Neil Kinnock on a tour of Scotland, Campbell had a nervous breakdown. He 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 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.
In 1994, shortly after Tony Blair was elected as Leader of the Labour Party, 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.