Alastair Campbell interview: Northern Ireland, David Kelly, Margaret Thatcher and Leveson

Alistair Campbell began his career as a journalist. He started working for The Daily Mirror in 1982 and then moved onto Today, a former British leftwing tabloid. In 1994 Tony Blair asked him to become his press secretary, and Campbell worked on Labour’s media campaign, where he helped them achieve a landslide victory in 1997.
That same year he became both the Prime Minister’s Chief Press Secretary and Official Spokesman. In Labour’s second term he took on the role of Director of Communications for the party.

Campbell has just published The Irish Diaries (1994-2003). The book describes the various ups and downs of the Northern Ireland peace process over a period of nine years. Written in real time, as historical events were unfolding, the diaries reveal in an intimate and informal tone, the last minute negotiations that went on through the early morning of April 10 1998, just moments before the Good Friday Agreement was about to be signed .