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Campbell: The power behind Blair
LONDON, England -- Alastair Campbell, who announced Friday that he was resigning as Prime Minister Tony Blair's director of communications, has often been called the second most powerful man in Britain. He was the brains behind the rebirth of the Labour Party and Tony Blair's election victory in 1997. Since then he has been the government's PR guru. Acknowledged as a master at handling the press, his often combatitive tactics made him plenty of enemies in the British media, with critics accusing him of putting "spin" before substance. Blair's statement on the resignation recognizes this. He said: "The picture of Alastair Campbell painted by parts of the media has always been a caricature. "The Alastair Campbell I know is an immensely able, fearless, loyal servant of the cause he believes in, who was dedicated not only to that cause but to his country. "He is a strong character who can make enemies but those who know him best, like him best. His combination to the Labour Party's modernization, and electoral success, was enormous." In recent months, Campbell, 46, has found himself at the center of a storm over allegations that the UK government "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier to strengthen the case for war against Iraq. The controversy grew after the apparent suicide of government weapons expert David Kelly, who was identified as the source of a BBC report which accused the government of altering the dossier before it was released. Reporter Andrew Gilligan subsequently named Campbell in a newspaper article as the culprit, an allegation Campbell vehemently denied. He set about demanding a retraction from the BBC. In August 19 testimony before the public inquiry, headed by Lord Hutton, Campbell said he was not responsible for inserting a claim in the dossier that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction could be deployed within 45 minutes. He also told the Hutton inquiry that he had in fact told the person writing the dossier to tone it down. (Full story) Campbell began his association with Blair in 1994, working as official spokesman when the prime minister was still the leader of the opposition. The two men are regarded as close associates -- so much so that Campbell's comments have often been interpreted as carrying the full weight of the prime minister. Campbell moved into the political arena after a career in journalism. He joined the Daily Mirror, a popular British tabloid, as a reporter in 1983. After holding other editorial positions at the Mirror newspaper group and Sunday Today, he was named the Mirror's political editor in 1987. In 1992, he became a Mirror columnist as well as a presenter on the BBC program "Week in Westminster." It was during this time that Campbell became a close adviser to Neil Kinnock, then leader of the Labour Party, before he joined Blair's staff when he took over the party's top job. With Labour's election victory in 1997, Campbell became the prime minister's chief press secretary. In 2000, he gave up the grind of daily press briefings to concentrate on long-term strategy -- a move that attracted greater attention to Campbell and criticism that he was wielding too much power for a press secretary.
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